A nationwide phone network has gone down in Spain, shortly after blackouts caused chaos and significant financial losses. Emergency services in several regions had to issue new phone numbers after Telefonica’s network upgrades caused phone lines to fail.
Reports in Spanish media state that landline telephones were the most impacted, but all voice services by Telefonica have been affected to some degree.
“We have carried out some network upgrades that have affected specific services at some companies. We are working to resolve this,” a Telefónica spokesperson said earlier this morning. Some areas reported phone networks returning later in the morning.
Emergency services in regions like Aragón, Extremadura, the Basque Country, and Valencia warned residents that they would be unable to use the 112 emergency number.
The 112 number has now been restored in the Valencia community, Aragon, La Rioja, and Andalusia, among other areas.
According to El Pais, the Downdetector website noted that problems started around 2 AM. Among those reporting issues, 72% experienced outages, 18% had no signal, and 10% faced a total outage in their area.
Spain’s Ministry for Digital Transformation and Civil Service told the outlet that it is “monitoring the situation, requesting precise information and timescales for a solution”.
In the Basque region, the incident is affecting some calls randomly and is beyond the control of the regional government’s Emergency Management Centre.
in late April when a major power outage affected much of the Iberian peninsula
Spain’s electrical grid was down for nearly a full day before the systems were restored, affecting traffic lights, street lamps, payment terminals, and screens.
Domestic and international transport was severely disrupted, leading to metro systems stopping and communication networks failing, causing confusion about the incident. Hundreds of flights were canceled at airports across Spain and Portugal.
Spain is investigating the incident with the help of government, security agencies, and technical experts. A high court judge is looking into whether a cyber attack caused it.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and power grid operator REE’s chief Beatriz Corredor have both said record levels of renewable energy were not to blame for the blackout.