The network problems which led to major disruption for almost 2 million customers of Three Mobile yesterday have been resolved, the company has said.

A spokeswoman said the problem, which meant many customers of the State’s second largest mobile phone network could not make calls, send or receive text messages or access the internet, was due to an electrical failure at one of its data centres.

She said the electrical problem saw temperatures increase in the data centre which then affected some systems and led to “some customers experiencing intermittent 2G and 3G service issues”.

The problem was tackled on a staggered basis before being fully resolved in the early hours of this morning.

The company expressed its gratitude to “those affected for their patience” and it apologised “for any inconvenience caused”.

The company’s thanks and its apology is unlikely to mean much to many of its customers who took to social media platforms in their droves last night to give out about the quality of the service being offered by the company.

Last July Hutchison Whampoa's mobile subsidiary Three Ireland concluded its €850 million acquisition of O2 Ireland from Telefónica. The Hong Kong-based company bought O2 in the UK last month in a deal worth £10.25 billion (€14 billion).

It now has to 33 million customers worldwide.