Since before, PTS requires that the telecommunications operators have reserve power for one hour in urban areas and for four hours in the rest of the country.
But in a pilot project on Gotland, the authority wants to ensure that it lasts much longer than that.
- Gotland is geographically defined and excellent as a test object.
It is also a particularly strategically important place from a total defense perspective, says Ove Landberg, head of the unit for robustness at PTS, to TT.
Increased resilience
The project should be completed next year.
The fixed networks must also be strengthened.
- The measures we implement are part of our systematic work to increase resilience and endurance in electronic communication.
If there is no electricity supply, there will be no electronic communication, unless you have a backup source, says Landberg.
The project aims to ensure that the whole of Gotland has functional outdoor coverage during a power outage.
This means that you may have to go outside for it to work.
The plan is to then take similar measures throughout the country.
The exact same measures probably cannot be implemented, as according to Landberg it would be too costly.
- The rate at which it happens depends on what kind of grants we receive from our client the government, he says.
Contribution to the operator
Technically, it works so that PTS pays out subsidies to the network-owning telecommunications operators so that they can secure the backup supply of electricity to the mobile base stations.
In some cases, the operator owns both the mast and the antennas (or other technical equipment).
In other cases, there are different owners.
The first part of the project, which included base stations on Gotland where the same operator owned the entire package, is already complete.
What is to be implemented in 2023 is the second part, when there are different owners of the technology.
The subsidy then goes to the owner of the mast, which means that the benefit also accrues to the other operators on the site.