Energy crisis: Towards cuts in mobile networks this winter?

In theory, telecom operators can expect outages. Enedis, the manager of the high voltage line network, must notify them at least 24 hours in advance. A very short time, according to the French Telecoms Federation, which represents the main operators (Orange, Bouygues and SFR-Altice). “Of course, you can imagine that bringing a 1.2-ton battery to the roof terrace at 7:30 p.m. the night before is even more complicated. It’s humanly and professionally impossible.”In the video at the top of this article, the president of FFT announces on TF1’s microphone.

Another question, if the signal goes down, can you still make an emergency call? Most cell towers are equipped with backup batteries. However, their autonomy is no more than 30 minutes. However, under critical conditions, power outages can last up to 2 hours, according to Enedis. Look for other solutions, as telecommunications consultant Guillaume Vaquero underscores. “For example, we can imagine operators turning off their 5G antennas. Limiting services based on data or reducing the antennas’ capacity to some extent.”This expert recommends.