If there were widespread power outages this winter, the mobile network would also be affected. European industry representatives are therefore already turning to their governments. The demand: You should exempt the industry from network shutdowns.
According to experts, Europe’s mobile network could fail, at least temporarily, in the event of power outages as a result of the energy crisis. Even if the smartphones themselves are battery-operated and can survive power outages lasting several hours, the transmission masts constantly need energy – and that is scarce in winter, given the failure of Russian gas supplies and the standstills at some French nuclear power plants.
Industry representatives point out that the emergency systems in many European countries are currently not sufficient to continue to provide a connection in the event of large-scale power failures. This puts the ball in the hands of companies and governments to at least ensure emergency supplies. Several countries, including Germany, France and Sweden, are currently working on a plan for maintaining the communication network even in the event of a power failure.
Because many of the almost half a million mobile phone masts have an emergency battery, but this usually does not last longer than around half an hour. The industry is therefore sounding the alarm and is working to exempt mobile communications infrastructure from possible network shutdowns. In France, for example, the power grid could be switched off for up to two hours in the event of an overload, critical infrastructure such as hospitals or police stations should be exempted.
In the summer there were talks between the government, the mobile phone companies and the French network operator Enedis, which belongs to the state-controlled utility EDF. Enedis did not comment on the content of the talks. It is up to the local authorities to determine who is among the preferred electricity customers. “Maybe we’ll know more in the winter, but it’s not easy to isolate a cellphone tower from the rest of the power grid,” said an insider from France’s finance ministry. The ministry itself declined to comment.
Cell phone companies in Sweden and Germany have also voiced their concerns to the government, several insiders said. The Swedish telecom regulator PTS helps, among other things, with the purchase of mobile base stations, which can provide connections in the event of longer power outages, said a spokesman. In addition, there are energy-saving measures by the telecom companies themselves. They would have to check their network to detect power guzzlers and put more energy-efficient equipment into operation, according to the industry.
Saving electricity is possible with software that optimizes the data connections and puts individual masts into sleep mode when they are not needed. Another option is emergency power generators. Deutsche Telekom relies on mobile diesel generators, which are supposed to keep radio masts in operation. However, only a small part of the approximately 33,000 radio masts can be supplied with it at the same time, the company restricted.
