OSAKA -- Phone services that had been disrupted for two hours in most of Osaka Prefecture were restored to normal a little past noon on Monday, said NTT West Corp., a regional unit of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp.

The carrier said it couldn't immediately determine the cause of the two-hour disruption, which affected most of the 5.16 million lines it provides.

NTT West said the disruptions may have occurred because many people phoned to order event tickets or because people made many calls after the end of the weekend.