“The thing that upsets me the most is that Proximus hardly communicated at all over the issue,” Van Quickenborne said. And he complained that Proximus failed to issue any information either on its website or on social networks. Customers outside of Belgium were also unable to contact the Proximus helpdesk.

The operator did ask clients calling from Belgium not to persist in trying when a number became unobtainable, as this would put even more pressure on the network. Extra capacity was added, and the problem was fixed by midnight on Saturday.

Now Van Quickenborne is calling on Proximus to compensate customers who were affected. “Not only for the lack of communication, but because customers pay dearly for that service,” he said. Parent company Belgacom rejected the criticism, as well as the proposed compensation. “We did indeed communicate sufficiently,” a spokesman said. “Belgacom is the only victim here.”