Reuters: Fears of “blackout” also in mobile telephony due to power outages in Europe

In the event “black out” and at mobile networks in Europe his publication is mentioned Reutersexplaining that something that until now seemed unimaginable, can become a reality this winter because of expected power outages to address the energy crisis.

Her decision of Russia to stop the supply of natural gas through Europe’s main supply route in its wake conflict in Ukraine has increased the chances for shortages in electricity.

At France, the situation is exacerbated by the shutdown of many nuclear power plants for maintenance. Telecom industry officials say that fear that a severe winter will test Europe’s telecommunications infrastructure, forcing companies and governments to try to mitigate the impact.

Currently, there are not enough backup systems in many European countries to handle widespread power outages, four telecom executives said, raising the prospect of mobile outages.

The European Union countriesincluding France, Sweden and Germany, are trying to ensure that communications can continue even if blackouts end up using up the spare batteries which are installed on the thousands of mobile phone antennas spread across their territory.

Europe has almost half a million telecommunication towers and most of them have backup batteries that last about 30 minutes for mobile antennas to work.

At the same time, NOKIA and Ericsson are working with mobile phone companies to see what they will do in the event of power outages, imgs familiar with the matter told Reuters.

“Telecom operators in Europe need to review their networks to reduce excess energy consumption and modernize their equipment,” telecom executives said in the meantime.

To save energy, telecom companies use software to optimize traffic flow, ie to put the towers in “sleep mode” when not in use and turn off different spectrum bands, imgs familiar with the matter said.

Telecommunications providers are also working with governments to check whether there are plans to maintain critical services, Reuters notes, while it will be a while before we know if our cellphones will eventually shut down.