It was once unthinkable, but mobile phones could stop working across Europe this winter if blackouts or energy budget cuts knock out parts of mobile networks. Reuters he says:
The war has cut off natural gas through Europe's main supply route, raising the possibility of power shortages.
In France, the situation is exacerbated by the shutdown of several nuclear power plants for maintenance. Telecoms industry executives say they fear a severe winter will put Europe's telecommunications infrastructure to the test, forcing companies and governments to try to mitigate the impact. Currently, there are not enough backup systems in many European countries capable of handling widespread power outages, four telecom executives said, raising the prospect of mobile outages.
European countries Unionς, συμπεριλαμβανομένης της Γαλλίας, της Σουηδίας και της Germanys, they try to ensure that communications can continue even if power outages end up draining the backup batteries installed in the thousands of cell phone antennas spread across their territory.
Europe has almost half a million telecom towers and most of them have backup batteries that last about 30 minutes to keep the mobile antennas working.
Telecoms gear makers Nokia and Ericsson are working with mobile operators to mitigate the impact of a power outage.
All European telecommunications providers should review their networks to reduce extra energy consumption and modernize latest technology equipment using more efficient projects, said the four telecommunications executives. To save energy, telecommunications companies use software to optimize traffic flow, which makes towers "sleep" when not in use, turning off different spectrum bands. Telecom providers are also working with various governments to check if there are plans to maintain critical services.
In Germany, Deutsche Telekom has 33.000 towers, and its mobile emergency systems can support a small number of them at once, a company spokesman said.
Deutsche Telekom will use mobile emergency power systems based mainly on diesel in case of prolonged power outages. France has about 62.000 towers and companies will not be able to equip all antennas with new batteries, said FFT president Liza Bellulo.
Accustomed to uninterrupted power supply for decades, European countries usually do not have generators to provide backup power for longer.
