Potential mobile phone and broadband blackouts could be a cause for concern this winter amid ongoing threats of electricity outages, according to Senator Lynn Boylan.
It comes amid fears over a “tumultuous” few months ahead of us.
Speaking in the Seanad today, Senator Boylan said that “once unthinkable scenarios” surrounding mobile phone and broadband blackouts are now “a very real prospect” facing us this winter.
In such circumstances, calls to emergency services could also be affected, some reports say.
Senator Boylan said that she remembers many blackouts in the past, but said: “One of the comforts years ago when we did have blackouts was, we all had landlines and we all had public phones and you could use it if anything went wrong.
“You would still be able to call for help or even just for comfort. The corded landline didn’t need any additional electricity to run on.”
However, due to the drop in popularity and availability of such phone services, people could be left exposed in the case of power outages.
“Even after the power comes back, we could be seeing prolonged outages of the mobile and broadband networks because the power outages increase the probability of electronic components failing if subjected to abrupt interruptions,” Senator Boylan said.
Posing the question to the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, the Senator asked what contingencies have been built into our communications network to prevent us from being exposed should mobile phone and broadband communications be cut.
Peter Burke TD was present to answer questions on behalf of the Minister and assured Senator Boylan that plans were in place to prevent a complete blackout and minimise the impact on people.
There are a number of plans, policies and protocols put in place by the Commission for Communications Regulation, or Comreg, in the case of an event that impacts mobile phone or broadband communications or indeed, communications with emergency services.
Senator Boylan thanked the Minister for a “comprehensive” answer on the different elements mentioned and said it was reassuring to hear that there was a back-up in place for the emergency call answering services, or ECAS.
However, she also said that there was no specific answer in relation to her queries about battery storage or isolation of antennas on the grid, but said she would contact Comreg about this.
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