One Communications said today its internet service is fully operational again after a slowing in speeds over the new year’s holiday caused by severe weather in the US.

In a statement today, One said intermittent degradation of speeds that began on Sunday afternoon was a result of freezing conditions which damaged fibre cabling on the US East Coast.

“At approximately 1:30pm on Sunday, December 31, our operations team identified an initial network instability issue,” Frank Amaral, One’s chief executive officer, said.

“After further investigation it was determined that the source of the issue was in the US where we deliver all of our internet traffic. By late evening, around 10pm, our US service providers confirmed that there was a fault impacting multiple customers in addition to One Communications.

“While we don’t have the full details yet, we understand that the issue and delayed repair efforts stemmed from severe freezing weather conditions along the East Coast which damaged a portion of fibre cabling in Rhode Island.

“The fault lead to reduced internet speeds intermittently for approximately 33 hours. Network services were fully normalised around 10pm on Monday, January 1.”

“Our sincerest apologies go out to our customers for the service impact, along with our delayed communications on the issue.

“Needless to say we’re very frustrated by the event especially with it occurring over the holiday, knowing how everyone is so dependent on their internet services.

“An internal review on the fault has already begun, inclusive of our overseas service providers, in order to assess and improve our diagnosis, resolution and communication processes.”