Cause of widespread internet outage unknown

Contact Energy says it is working out how a widespread outage to its broadband internet services occurred last night.

On social media, people in Christchurch,  Auckland, and Wellington reported problems with internet access between 7pm and 8.30pm on Tuesday.

Contact chief retail officer Michael Robertson says its broadband service is now back up and running following a brief and unexpected outage.

A message on the company's website says if people are still experiencing problems to turn their modem off and on.

There are more than 100,000 Contact broadband customers across New Zealand.