Major Mobile Networks Crash Across Spain Days After Nation-Wide Blackout

All major mobile networks across Spain suffered outages on Tuesday, just weeks after the country experienced a widespread power failure.

The disruption affected services provided by Movistar, Orange, Vodafone, Digimobil, and O2, impacting corporate contracts.

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Customers lodged numerous complaints as landline, internet, and emergency services went offline early in the morning.

The network issues were reported nationwide, including in Madrid, Andalucía, Galicia, the Basque Country, Aragon, Navarra, Extremadura, and the Valencian Community.

Spanish media reports indicated that services operated under Telefónica were primarily affected.

However, the outages did not seem to impact individual mobile users. Telefónica stated that the disruption resulted from "network upgrade work" which had impacted "specific services" across Spain.

"We have carried out some network updates that have affected specific services of some companies. We are working to solve the problem," a company spokesperson told Reuters.

Emergency lines, which were initially down, have since been restored in certain regions. In Catalonia, the disruption was described as "minimal" and the emergency number remained accessible, according to El Mundo.

This communications failure comes shortly after a major power cut affected the Iberian Peninsula.

Spain's Recent Power Outage

Late last month, a massive power outage disrupted life across Spain, Portugal, and parts of southern France. Spain's Prime Minister attributed the blackout to a fault within Europe's electricity grid.

Local media reported significant disruptions, including traffic light failures, airport issues, and suspended services on the Madrid metro. Spain's grid operator Red Eléctrica collaborated with power companies for hours to restore electricity.

Images published by El País showed halted metro trains, police directing traffic, and journalists working under torchlight in darkened offices.

Meanwhile in France, the national grid operator, Réseau de Transport d'Électricité (RTE), confirmed a brief outage, with power being restored shortly thereafter.