Tele2 networks have experienced three crippling outages in the last 12 months, with the recent one in June having disrupted voice call services for many corporate and private customers for several hours.

The two previous severe outages had affected roaming in Europe and customers in Sweden.

"We are not satisfied with anything less than Tele2 having the most reliable networks in the markets where we compete, Tele2 Chief Executive Anders Nilsson said in a statement.

"We want our customers to feel confident in our ability to deliver stable and secure services, which is why we've initiated this audit," he added.

Tele2, which operates in Sweden and the Baltics, said the audit would scrutinize network components and infrastructure and last at least three months, with management consultant firm Analysys Mason assisting with the review.

Such outages can have serious reputational impacts for providers, with the Dutch government having last week launched a review after KPN was hit by a nationwide network outage.

(This story has been corrected to remove incorrect reference to internet disruption in paragraph 2)

(Reporting by Esha Vaish; Editing by Anna Ringstrom/Keith Weir)