After the massive blackout, Spain changes mobile network rules: new obligations
After the massive blackout, Spain changes mobile network rules: new obligations
Spain will require mobile network operators to maintain coverage for at least four hours during a power outage. This is established by a Royal Decree that the government aims to approve by the end of 2026, designed to prevent a new blackout from leaving millions without the ability to call or connect to the network.
The rule, announced by the Minister for Digital Transformation, Óscar López, will obligate operators and infrastructure companies to equip sites with batteries, generators, or hybrid systems capable of powering radio stations even when the electric grid is down. The goal is to ensure continuity of essential services, starting with emergency calls, in the initial hours of an energy emergency.
Not everyone will be subject to this obligation. It will apply to companies with at least 500,000 users or an annual turnover exceeding 50 million euros, namely the major players in the Spanish telecommunications market. Coverage will be extended progressively: 50% of the population must be protected within the first year, rising to 65% in the second year and to three-quarters of the population in the third.
Not just telephony: critical nodes must endure for up to 24 hours
The decree goes beyond mobile networks and also addresses other junctions in the digital supply chain, with increasing autonomy thresholds based on their criticality. Intermediate structures, like management centers that can impact an entire autonomous community, must remain operational for at least 12 hours without power from the grid.
For first-level facilities, the requirements are even stricter. Control centers whose failure would have repercussions for the entire country must guarantee operation for a minimum of 24 hours. Emergency call management centers, for their part, must prepare specific plans to ensure service continuity.
This measure arises as a direct response to the blackout of April 28, 2025, when a power outage hit the Iberian Peninsula, leaving more than 50 million people without electricity across Spain, Portugal, and part of France. In many areas, power was out for approximately ten hours, an event described as the most severe in Europe in the last twenty years.
During those hours, telecommunications networks backed by continuity groups progressively failed as batteries drained, with data traffic collapsing at times by about 90%. Many users found themselves with smartphones having no signal right when they needed to contact family or emergency services, while electronic payment systems and various public services were paralyzed.
The fragility that emerged on the ground has prompted Madrid to set binding minimum requirements, rather than leaving energy reserves to the sole commercial assessment of operators. The underlying idea is to treat connectivity as a critical service on par with water or energy, to be preserved even when the electrical system fails.
In practical terms, the adaptation will not be painless. To meet the new thresholds, operators will have to intervene on thousands of sites across the territory, in some cases with larger batteries, in others with generators or hybrid systems, where the physical space available at the top of towers or in cabinets is not always sufficient. The government’s measure must now pass the legislative process before the final approval expected by the end of 2026.