Service restored after cut cable blocks Vodafone customers

Phone lines to Vodafone's customer service call centres have been fully restored, following a cut to its fibre lines earlier today.

The cut in Penrose, Auckland, affected call centres nationwide, with customers unable to get through on the 0800 and 0508 numbers, or by calling 777 and 888.

It also affected customer self-service tools such as MyVodafone, but did not disrupt its network.

One customer spent more than four hours trying to get through to Vodafone customer service.

In an evening update, Vodafone said the fault had now been fully restored.

"Vodafone call centres nationwide which were impacted by a Penrose fibre cut this morning are now taking customer calls," it said in a statement.

"Vodafone self-service tools, including My Vodafone, are also back up and running."

However, because of the earlier cut, customers were warned to expect "long call wait times".

The company "sincerely apologises" for the inconvenience to customers.

Vodafone's network was unaffected by the cut, with mobile, fixed and business services running as normal.

Lines company Vector said the fibre cable had been cut by a third-party contractor shortly after 11am today.

The contractor also damaged a gas pipe, leading the Fire Service to take control of the site until the pipe was repaired at 3.36pm.

Vector spokeswoman Sandy Hodge said fibre crews then went in and made repairs.

"Initially, it was thought the repairs could take until 10pm, but crews have managed to restore earlier."

Vector said contractors must take care when digging around other utility services, and the company would be investigating today's incident thoroughly.