Telecommunications in Spain have been seriously affected by it. Numerous users have reported problems to make calls, which in many cases do not even give tone. For its part, the WhatsApp messaging service works at half a gas, with users who are being able to make use of it, but with many others who do not even receive the messages and cannot communicate. Numerous users report on social networks such as X (formerly Twitter)
Great telecos such as Telefónica and Masorange are studying what happened and trying to normalize the service as soon as possible. Finetwork has already warned its customers.
“Telefónica has activated the Crisis Committee established for emergency situations such as the existing and is following the protocols set in its contingency plan. The company is working, as planned and established, to maintain the service, rationalizing the use of resources so that it remains operational as much time as possible and prioritizing the essential services. The blackout, generalized in the country, has affected the telecommunications services, which are being being supported by electric generators and batteries waiting for the electricity supply to recover, which the network is dependent, ”said the main telecation of the country.
Vodafone Spain, meanwhile, has warned that there has been a massive fall of the electricity grid in most provinces in Spain, impacting communications and infrastructure. The Teleco had indicated at 15:32 in the afternoon that its mobile network service was active in more than 60%, thanks to reserve generators, “but its operation will depend on the duration of the incidence.” In a graphic, the company reported that the regions with the worst service at that time were Andalusia and the Valencian Community, both below 50% of the active mobile network service.
At 18:30, Vodafone has updated the information by pointing out that the active service of its mobile network had dropped to 35%. “It will progressively increase in the next few hours with the gradual activation of the electricity service that is being produced in some locations and regions,” said the company, which has launched a crisis committee such as Telefónica.
“The network control centers, such as datacentes and other systems are maintained operational and with sufficient autonomy until the recovery of the electric service. The crisis committee continues to take measures in the network infrastructure to maintain for the fullest possible time communications in critical infrastrutures, prioritizing and managing resources and the capacity in the most efficient way,” said the company.
Vodafone has pointed out that the duration of the electricity supply cut, the problems of access to the sites where the antennas and the difficulty in being able to obtain diesel for generators progressively affects telecommunications services, dependent on energy sources for its operation.
“From Vodafone Spain, we recommend our clients that have mobile communication to make a responsible use of it avoiding collapse the service,” the company has asked. Through the social network X, Orange has asked its clients to limit communications “to the strictly necessary” to avoid the collapse of emergency services and have advised to activate energy saving mode in mobile phones.
In this sense, Madrid’s 112 service has asked not to call unless it is strictly necessary. “We are operational thanks to their own structures. Use 112 only for emergency calls,” they have said in a tweet.
We are receiving calls related to light cuts in the region. In 112 we are operational thanks to our own structures.
Use 112 only for emergency calls. and communicate normally with their bases.
– 112 Community of Madrid (@112cmadrid)
In Barcelona, for example, the City Council has indicated that the mayor, Jaume Collboni, is presiding over the Cecor, the Barcelona Emergency Coordination Center, a summoned of emergency “to follow the effects due to the lack of electricity and some telecommunications,” reports Clara Blandanchar. In Andalusia, the president of the Board, Juanma Moreno Bonilla, has asked the government to activate the national emergency situation.
As for the Internet, experts such as Arturo Azcorra, deputy director of IMDEA Networks, warn of their dependence on what is known as intermediate groups or data switches that are distributed by cities, which can only endure a few hours without light. This would make the network fall even though the large data centers are protected with their own groups that can work indefinitely. “It’s as if the central nervous system worked, but not the peripheral,” says Azcorra in information from Jordi Pérez Colomé.
The Downdector website shows from the blackout time, around 12:30 in the Peninsula, a multitude of reports on stops in the activity of all telecommunications companies, including Telefónica, Digi, Jazztel, Vodafone or Masorange, an incidence that extends to banks, mobile applications or any other system that requires electricity.
