The CEO of Orange evokes risks for emergency calls in the event of power cuts


by Mathieu Rosemain and Elizabeth Pineau

PARIS (Reuters) – Emergency call numbers could be inaccessible in some regions of France in the event of prolonged power cuts this winter, Orange chief executive Christel Heydemann warned on Wednesday as the war in Ukraine exposes the country to the risk of energy rationing.

The remarks of the leader, who took the reins of Orange in April, contrast with those, more reassuring, of the government and underline the difficulties which the telecommunications industry weighs on the prospect of prolonged power cuts.

“If in a geographic area, (mobile network services) are turned off for two hours, there will be no access to the emergency number service for a while,” she said during an interview. a hearing by the Senate Economic Affairs Committee.

“It is illusory to imagine that in the event of load shedding, we will be able to maintain continuous service for all French people,” added the manager.

Telecoms officials told Reuters in September they feared a severe winter in Europe could test infrastructure, forcing governments and businesses to take action.

Insisting on the impossibility of installing emergency batteries in time on the thousands of installations of the mobile network, the general manager of the group affirmed that it would take five years to achieve this throughout the territory.

According to Christel Heydemann, Orange has carried out numerous tests on its mobile network in France to assess and anticipate the risks of cuts.

According to the current scenarios discussed with the government, Orange would be informed of any power outage and its precise location the day before at 5:00 p.m. (4:00 p.m. GMT).

The French group seeks to obtain this information 24 hours before the occurrence of a cut so that technicians can intervene on the ground as quickly as possible, said Christel Heydemann.

“I fear that our fellow citizens and the French will discover that telecom networks depend on electricity,” she told the Senate’s Economic Affairs Committee.

“STRUCTURE” BETWEEN OPERATORS AND AUTHORITIES

“The operators are putting pressure on us not to cut their antennas, there is a kind of showdown,” said a government source. “The government has been working on the subject for a year and a half, we are in contact with the operators, we see what we can do with Enedis and RTE”.

According to this source, the prefects are responsible for identifying the areas affected by the cuts and proposing alternative measures such as setting up patrols, for example.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Digital Transition and Telecommunications declined to comment.

Enedis, the manager of the electricity distribution network, for its part made it known that its priority and that of the public authorities was “to help telecom operators to preserve access to emergency numbers, in particular to 112, by case of an exceptional load shedding device”.

“Discussions are still ongoing (…) to find the best possible solutions to limit the impacts linked to potential temporary cuts”, added Enedis.

Christel Heydemann’s warnings contrast with the government’s recent, less alarmist comments on the risks associated with emergency call numbers.

“In the scenarios we are considering, and if there were problems with the electricity supply at a given time, there are what are called ‘resource antennas’, which are well distributed throughout the national territory. and in fact, a single antenna, for example from a single functional operator, is enough for all the emergency numbers to be able to work”, explained government spokesperson Olivier Véran on Tuesday to the press after the council. ministers.

Only a few thousand mobile antennas would at this stage be totally protected from possible cuts, said a source in the sector, which would protect only a fraction of the population.

(Mathieu Rosemain and Elizabeth Pineau, with contributions from Benjamin Mallet, French version Laetitia Volga, edited by Blandine Hénault and Kate Entringer)



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