There are major communication issues throughout Spain as a result of a technical malfunction in Telefónica’s telecoms infrastructure. Power interruptions in recent weeks before the tragedy.

In Spain , where a widespread power outage paralysed life for two days , four weeks later, landline and mobile phone lines were down again, signals were cut off and even emergency phone lines were not working.

After hours of outages, Spanish telecom company Telefónica announced that all services in Spain have been restored.

IMPROVEMENT WORK CRUSHED NETWORKS

According to a report by Ramon Muñoz from El País newspaper, an incident that occurred on Tuesday, May 20, due to improvement work on Telefónica’s network caused telephone lines and internet services to be cut off throughout Spain in the morning hours. The report included information that “The incident at Telefónica caused a part of the network to lose landline and internet access.”

Telefónica later announced that landline and internet services were back in normal use starting at 10:30 local time (11:30 Turkish time). El País also reported that 112 emergency services had resumed service in many autonomous regions affected by the hours-long outage.

112 EMERGENCY SERVICES ALSO AFFECTED

According to the news reflected in the Spanish press, 112 emergency services in many autonomous regions such as Aragon, Andalusia, Extremadura, Navarra, Basque Country and Valencia were also affected by the situation.

In a statement, Telefónica noted that work was being done “affecting certain services in some companies” and that the problem was “being resolved”.

As of 10:00 local time, emergency services had been restored in many affected areas, including Valencia, Andalusia and Navarra, El País reported.

A spokesperson for Spain’s Ministry of Digital Transformation and Public Services also told the newspaper that the ministry was “monitoring the situation and requesting precise information and a timetable for a solution.”

WHERE DID THE PROBLEM AFFECT?

According to the news, the incident is thought to have been caused by a failure in Telefónica’s data exchange network. The “MPLS” network in question provides service to 112 and other three-digit telephone lines experiencing similar problems.

It is stated that Telefónica started an update operation at 03:00 local time today, and that some problems with outgoing calls began to be experienced after this.

The news from the UK’s Metro news site stated that all major mobile networks in Spain crashed this morning. It was stated that Movistar, Orange, Vodafone, Digimobil and O2 were among the mobile networks in question. The Daily Mail also reported that “all major mobile networks in Spain crashed.”

The problems began at around 06:00 local time today, affecting major cities including the capital Madrid, as well as Malaga, Barcelona, Valencia, Murcia, Seville and Bilbao.

“IMPROVEMENT EFFORTS AFFECTED SERVICES”

The Metro news website reported that the problem with emergency lines in Aragon, near the French border, had been resolved, but problems persisted elsewhere. Spanish media reported that networks linked to Telefónica appeared to be affected.

The main complaints of users were the lack of signal, internet problems and many 112 emergency lines crashing. Due to the lack of service of emergency lines, alternative phone numbers were provided to the public in some areas.

A source from Telefónica told El Correro that “network improvement work” was being carried out and that this was affecting “specific services” across the country. It was stated that the outage affected both internet and telephone services. According to reports in the Spanish press, landlines were the most affected.

HEALTH SERVICES HAVE BEEN NEGATIVELY AFFECTED

Following the problems with the telephone and internet networks, queues were seen forming in front of health centres in the Andalusia region in the south of the country.

A patient who spoke to the newspaper El Correo de Andalucía explained that they had an appointment today and therefore went to the hospital, but there were no computers, so the paperwork could not be done.

While it was reported that the 112 emergency lines in the south were out of service between 07:15 and 08:40 local time, some health centres reported that they continued to experience problems. Health workers in the capital, Madrid, also reported that they were unable to reach a hospital in the capital.

STATEMENT FROM THE COMPANY

Telefónica announced later in the day that landline and internet services were back in normal use as of 10:30 local time (11:30 GMT).

Vodafone and MasOrange also announced that the fault was caused by Telefónica and that their customers did not experience any problems.

At the end of April, Spain’s electricity grid was completely disconnected from France, and the Iberian Peninsula was cut off from the European continental grid. The Spanish and Portuguese electricity systems, which had lost support from the European system, also collapsed rapidly.