Spain plunged yesterday into a unprecedented energy blackout. A complete fall of the national electricity grid that caused problems in essential services and, above all … communications.
A few hours after the Energy zero throughout All Spanish territoryoperators such as Vodafone Spain kept active 70% of their mobile network. The question is how.
How the network was kept alive. Despite the national blackout, Some operators like Vodafone They made their mobile network remain active thanks to reserve generators. Although popular perception may be that the network connection is a purely wireless technology, it depends completely on telephone stations (what we commonly know as antennas), some that need electricity to function.
Before scenarios such as yesterday, all protocols were activated to keep them alive despite the disconnection with the national electricity grid. This was achieved thanks to two main actors: backup batteries and structure.
Diesel and batteries. Groups such as Masmobic confirm Xataka that this maintenance of the network infrastructure was achieved thanks to its reserve generators located in the stations themselves, but also to displaced electrogen groups to each area. In Spain, the Low voltage electrotechnical regulation (REBT) It demands support systems in critical infrastructure.
Image | Vodafone
The autonomy of these systems is limited and variable. That a station can be fed for more or less time depends on the state of the batteries, the capacity of the generators and the logistics of the fuel supply. In the best case, structures can keep the service for 24-48 hours. If we talk about reserve batteries, autonomy usually ranges between two and eight hours.
This is the main reason why Some networks continued to work after the blackout and also for which others began to fail after a few hours.
A progressive fall. Vodafone managed to exceed 70% activity in the network at 3:00 p.m., maintaining autonomy in its network, datacentes and systems control centers. As the hours were advancing, the figure fell.
At 23: 00h, mobile traffic fell to 60% with 50% of active nodes. Reason? After more than ten hours of blackout, some of the reserve batteries began to run out.
Why I had no coverage and my neighbor yes. During the blackout, access to the mobile network was (and remains) variable, and this is due to several factors. The main is the difference in backup feed systems (SAI or generators) that have mobile phone antennas. Not all base stations have the same capacity to continue working without electricity supply: some have batteries with little autonomy, other generators that require fuel (diesel or gas), and their availability and maintenance vary.
In the same way, Not all operators use the same infrastructure. Each company has its own (or rented) towers and nodes, which means that two mobiles can be connected to different antennas even being in the same area. Thus, it is possible that the antenna of your operator has stopped working before, while that of your neighbor – with another operator – remains active longer.
The small operators. Vodafone proved to live up to 70% of the coverage, but smaller companies, with fewer nodes to connect and lower capacity to supply energy, faced a more complex situation.
The so -called virtual mobile operators (OMV) “As Digi, Finetwork, Pepephone, Lowi, etc.,” do not have their own infrastructure. Instead, they rent access to the networks of the greats (Movistar, Orange or Vodafone). The immediate translation is that its operation depends completely on the conditions of the wholesale operator in each area. If the antenna to which a user of a secondary operator connects does not have sufficient support, or if your host network prioritizes other services, the user runs out of coverage more quickly and for longer.
How long would they last before chaos. Telecommunications networks can survive without electricity supply for a limited time, but are not designed to resist prolonged blackouts. In the best of the scenarios, with well -supplied structures and batteries in good condition, some stations could be kept operational between 24 and 48 hours. Beyond that threshold, everything depends on the operator’s logistics capacity to replenish fuel.
In that scenario, the first to run out of coverage would be users connected to secondary nodes or small operators, while critical or priority areas (hospitals, security forces, command centers) could maintain connection for longer thanks to emergency protocols.
Image | Telefónica
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