As the possibility of energy rationing looms amid the conflict in Ukraine, Orange, the country’s top telecom operator, warned on Wednesday that some areas of France may not be able to make emergency phone calls if there are protracted power outages this winter.
The stern warning from Christel Heydemann contrasts with the comforting tone of the French government on the subject and emphasises the difficulties the telecoms sector has in maintaining mobile services in the case of protracted power outages.
At a Senate session, Heydemann warned French lawmakers that access to emergency number services would be lost if mobile network services were disabled for two hours in a particular location.
In the event of a power outage, it is unrealistic to think that we will be able to provide service to everyone in France, she said.
Officials from the telecoms sector told Reuters in September that they were concerned that power rationing, which was a possibility due to a decline in Russian energy supplies, may cause some areas of the mobile network in Europe to go down, requiring businesses and governments to take precautions.
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