Jan 8 (Reuters) - U.S. telecom giant AT&T ( T ) said on

Wednesday it would offer bill credits for network outages as

part of a new initiative to attract customers, after the

industry experienced several significant disruptions in 2024.

In February last year, AT&T ( T ) faced a nationwide wireless

service disruption that lasted more than 12 hours, blocking over

92 million calls and preventing over 25,000 attempts to contact

the 911 emergency call line. In response, the company credited

customers with a full day of service.

Customers of rival telecom companies, such as T-Mobile

and Verizon, also faced service disruptions,

sparking widespread frustration and raising concerns about the

reliability of critical communication infrastructure.

Under AT&T's ( T ) latest initiative, AT&T Guarantee, fiber users

who experience outages of 20 minutes or more, and wireless

customers who face disruptions of 60 minutes or more of a

covered outage, will automatically receive a bill credit

equivalent to a full day of service.

"Four years ago, we were losing share in the industry for a

significant period of time," Jenifer Robertson, executive vice

president and GM, AT&T Mass Markets & Mobility, told Reuters.

"We knew we had lost our customers' trust," Robertson said,

adding that AT&T ( T ) responded with strategies such as pricing,

product improvements and promotional offers to return the

company to growth.

The initiative, which will be live from Thursday, is AT&T's ( T )

guarantee to "make it right" for customers should the company

fail to deliver on its promise of dependable connectivity,

according to an AT&T ( T ) statement.

For three years in a row, until 2023, AT&T ( T ) had topped the

customer satisfaction rankings for business wireless service

among large enterprises, according to a survey by consulting

firm J.D. Power.

"Since 2019, we've invested more than $140 billion in our

network and almost a billion dollars in customer care and

operations," Robertson said.