O2 UK spending £10M to fix rogue database after recent outages

O2 UK is spending £10 million to replace its central customer database with a more proven system after two recent outages impacted millions of customers.

The company is removing the existing Ericsson system after it developed faults last week and once earlier in July. The operator will also dedicate staff within its service experience department to ensure that customers are benefiting from as much network coverage as possible, according to Mobile News.

O2 UK COO Derek McManus wrote in a company blog post that the operator is "extremely disappointed to have let our customers down again" and said the network faults were "unsatisfactory."

"We are not prepared to risk this happening to our customers for a third time and are implementing a proven alternative solution," he wrote.  The £10 million the operator will spend  implementing this database change will be above the £1.5 million it spends daily on network improvements.

McManus explained to Mobile Today that that the Ericsson database registers customers' SIM cards on O2's network, although the operator will not be ending its relationship with Ericsson, who will still provide other parts of the network.

While the operator did not offer compensation to customers affected by the latest problems, the COO wrote: "While we recognise that we have dented the confidence and trust of some of our customers, I hope this plan will demonstrate our commitment to rebuilding that trust."

For more:
- see this O2 UK blog post
- see this Mobile News article
- see this Mobile Today article

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