A Reuters report said on Thursday that mobile phones in Europe could stop working this winter if blackouts or the imposition of power distribution quotas disrupt sections of mobile phone networks across the region.
Russia's decision to suspend gas shipments through the main supply route to Europe, following the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine, has increased the potential for energy shortages, and the situation has worsened in France due to the closure of many nuclear power plants for maintenance, according to a Reuters report.
Telecom officials say they fear the harsh winter will put Europe's telecom infrastructure on the line, forcing companies and governments to try to mitigate the impact.
Reuters quoted 4 executives in the communications sector as saying that there are currently insufficient backup systems in many European countries to deal with large-scale power outages, which increases the possibility of outages in mobile phone services.
European Union countries - including France, Sweden and Germany - are seeking to ensure that communications continue even as power outages cause the use of spare batteries installed on thousands of cellular antennas scattered across their territories.
There are nearly half a million telecom towers on European soil, most of which have backup batteries that can last for about 30 minutes to power the mobile phone antennas.
According to a Reuters report, there are nearly half a million telecom towers on European soil, most of which have spare batteries that can last for about 30 minutes to operate mobile phone antennas.
Two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that the plan presented by France's electricity distribution company Enedis includes a potential blackout of up to two hours in a worst-case scenario.
These two sources made it clear that electricity will be cut off to parts of the country alternately, and that essential services such as hospitals, police and the government will not be affected.
According to a government source, the government, telecom companies and Indes - a unit of the state-owned EDF - held talks on the matter over the summer.