Major phone fault now fixed, says Telecom

Telecom says a major telecommunications fault that hit Auckland and Northland has now been fixed.

The problem affected landlines, the Eftpos payment system and some mobile phone calls to and from landlines north of the Bombay Hills.

Telecom spokesman Mark Watts said the cause of the fault was not yet known, but technicians were working hard to work out what had happened.

He said the problem, which lasted from 10.45am to 12.40pm, had been intermittent - with some calls getting through without problem, while others were affected.

Eftpos New Zealand, a subsidiary of the ANZ National bank, and one of the country's two major electronic card processers issued a release saying it had was advised its merchant customers to "revert back to using manual vouchers until the issue is resolved."