Users Across Bulgaria Were Left Without Phone and Internet Service for Hours Due to Mobile Network Outage

A failure in the mobile network of one of the operators left users across Bulgaria without phone and internet service for several hours on April 25. The company claims that the cause was a software update to its mobile network. The Communications Regulation Commission has launched an urgent investigation.

Issues with the mobile network began shortly after 7:00 a.m.

Ivan Dimitrov – Chairman of the Communications Regulation Commission:

“This incident occurred during routine actions related to a network upgrade or the loading of digital certificates to the network. The outage effectively impacted users throughout the entire country.”

The company only disclosed that they had a problem around noon.

Statement from Vivacom:

“Since this morning, we have been experiencing technical issues with our mobile network and are working to fix them as quickly as possible. The issue was caused by a software update to the mobile network performed by one of our suppliers. As a result, users may have experienced difficulties with voice calls and data transmission services.”

On social media, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Transport and Communications called on the operator to explain what measures it will take to prevent such outages in the future.

Kiril Dobrev – Chairman of the Transport and Communications Committee in Parliament:

“This outage directly affects hundreds of thousands of users—individuals, businesses, healthcare institutions, and emergency services—across the country. In today’s digital society, mobile connectivity is not a privilege, but a basic right and vital necessity.”

Solving the problem took several hours.

Ivan Dimitrov – Chairman of the Communications Regulation Commission:

“After 11:30 a.m., the network’s functionality had been restored. This is an incident that has not occurred before and should be assessed very carefully. Measures must be put in place to prevent such incidents in the future.”

The exact number of affected users and whether the operator was at fault will be determined in the coming days.

Ivan Dimitrov – Chairman of the Communications Regulation Commission:

“There should have been information in advance that routine operations were being carried out, as they could potentially cause disruptions. Neglecting a relatively minor technological process, as we can see, led to a lot of problems and headaches for users.”

The operator has not commented on whether affected customers will be compensated. The results of the Communications Regulation Commission's probe are expected next week.