Cingular Wireless customers in parts of eastern Texas experienced a network outage on Monday caused by "hardware and software issues," the company confirmed today.

"The disruption was restricted to Dallas and Houston GSM customers and lasted from a quarter to five Central time to seven Central time," Mark Siegal, a Cingular spokesman, told internetnews.com.

Siegal refuted a local Texas television station report that claimed the problem was far more widespread. The breakdown primarily affected customers trying to receive calls on their mobile phones; those making calls had less difficulties, he added.

Atlanta-based Cingular declined to disclose how many subscribers they have in the Dallas and Houston markets.

Siegal said the downtime was not a result of any integration work related to its $41 billion merger with AT&T Wireless.

Cingular is a joint venture between SBC Communications and BellSouth. The carrier emerged as the winner in the AT&T Wireless sweepstakes in February, after outbidding Vodafone in an auction.

The merger gave Cingular 46 million subscribers, vaulting it ahead of Verizon Wireless. But the two carriers are expected to battle for customers in the coming months.

Reprinted from internetnews.com