AT&T making ‘significant progress’ restoring Nashville network hub after massive explosion

AT&T said Sunday that it was making “significant progress” in its efforts to restore cell service to customers in Nashville, Tenn. after an explosion seriously damaged its facility in the city on Christmas morning.

An update from the company posted on its website indicated that cleanup crews were still pumping water out of the lower floors of the facility, which sustained heavy damage after an RV exploded outside the building Friday in what authorities said was an “intentional act.”

“We are bringing in additional resources to support the recovery of wireline voice and data services and expect to have a fleet of 24 additional trailers of disaster recovery equipment on site by the end of the day,” the company said in a statement.

“We continue to assess the damage to the facility and have confirmed that the building’s commercial power connections are damaged and offline,” the statement said.

The Tennessean reported that multiple first responder agencies including Nashville’s police department use AT&T as their commercial service provider and saw phone service go down Friday as the blast occurred. AT&T has deployed a number of mobile cell service towers to provide service in the city as it works to restore the company’s normal capabilities.

Outages have been reported across Tennessee for days. Some have reported their service returning, while others still face slow or no access to the company’s network.

AT&T service disruptions continue after the early morning explosion in Nashville pic.twitter.com/jrLcdYXBUl

— James Spann (@spann) December 25, 2020

State and federal agencies are collaborating in an investigation into the explosion but have not yet released any information about a suspect or motive for the blast.

On Saturday, federal agents were seen searching a home in Antioch, Tenn., reportedly in connection with the explosion.