Scores of homes and businesses from Paget to Dockyard were left without communication yesterday following a "serious data outage" at the Bermuda Telephone Company (BTC).

Land lines in the West End were unable to accept or receive calls as a result of the failure, and cell phones reliant on the BTC network were also affected.

A BTC press release stated: "We are giving this outage our top priority and have all appropriate local and overseas technical personnel focused on resolving the problem. The outage is mostly affecting the data circuits but this could also include some voice services.

"We apologise for the inconvenience this has caused and want to assure the public that every attempt is being made to restore service as quickly as possible."

Spokesperson Kendaree Burgess Fairn said the outages were intermittent and seemed to only affect BTC Internet users and those with both phone and Internet DSL lines with the company.

The Royal Gazette randomly contacted a variety of businesses in the West End. Some appeared to have normal service, others didn't ring or, like Sandys Boat Club, Caesar's Pharmacy and Upper Crust in Somerset, rang as busy.

Upper Crust general manager Marico Thomas said the failure had caused the restaurant to lose almost all of their business for the day.

He said: "The impact has been horrible. While a small percentage of our business is walk-in, we rely on the phone for delivery and call-in orders which is the lion's share of the business at the Somerset location. With the phones being inoperable, we have seen a 95 percent drop in business.

"We have called BTC's published numbers but have not been able to get through. We then called 611 to see if we could have calls forwarded to a cell number, but were told this could not be done. Our Internet and fax connections are also down. We can't even get a voicemail message set up to let people know we are open and how to order."

Mr. Thomas continued: "We have had to send staff home. And as of 5 p.m. today, it looks like we shouldn't have even opened to turn the equipment on. Stuff happens, but I sure hope this can be resolved as soon as possible because in this economy, we sure cannot afford to carry the staffing costs if there is no money coming in."

According to an employee, the phone service at the restaurant came back at around 7.30 p.m.

A Bermuda Hospitals Board spokesperson said BTC had been in contact to explain the situation.

"We were advised by BTC about intermittent interruptions to service affecting outgoing calls and paging from KEMH," she said.

She added that although the hospital wasn't able to dial out to numbers in the West End, it did not appear to have any problems with its own land lines.

Dave Shastri, head of Comada Limited in Sandys, said his company's phones were not working but their Internet and other communications were available through their cable network. He said: "So many firms rely on two things, one (is) the Internet, and two, their faxes and phones so if your communication systems are cut off then you are out of luck."