Orange Launches Internal Probe into Recent Network Outage

On Friday, Orange Telecom, France's largest telco, launched an internal inquiry into the recent network outage that stopped even the emergency phone calls this week.

Network Outage Piles Pressure on Orange

The telco said in a statement that Stephane Richard, its head, has launched an internal inquiry. It added that the conclusions from this inquiry will arrive within seven days.

It also added that its teams remained mobilized and are monitoring situation closely. Also, it further reiterated that the network was operating normally again.

Worryingly, there were at least three deaths recorded during the period. However, French Health Minister Olivier Veran said it was too soon to say whether there was any link between the deaths and the outage.

This incident did not go well within French politics, with Richard under a good deal of political pressure now. President Emmanuel Macron also said that he was "very concerned" by the incident. The French state is the telco's biggest individual shareholder, with it, along with state band Bpifrance holding about 23% of its share capital.

Richard has said the outage was not caused by an attack nor by a malicious act. However, he added that the telco has not yet linked the same to neither human error nor a maintenance issue.

The outage began on Wednesday afternoon, before things got better. The people at the telco had entirely fixed the network by Thursday end. The two-day outage affected the French emergency services the most, which is why this event is a cause of concern.