Ann Nishida, a spokeswoman for Verizon Hawaii, said at 10:15 a.m. that company technicians were aware of the problem but had not yet determined what was causing it or how many agencies were affected or when the problem began.

But state communications technicians said the problem appears to be with Verizon's equipment, that virtually all state agencies are affected and that most of the agencies noticed problems with telephone service when they opened at 7:45 this morning.