The Russian-Ukrainian war could shut down Europe's mobile phones this winter if blackouts or the imposition of power quotas disrupt sections of mobile phone networks across the region.
According to Arab Net, Russia's decision to suspend gas shipments to Europe after the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine has increased the potential for energy shortages. The situation in France was made worse by the closure of many nuclear power plants for maintenance.
Telecom officials say they fear a harsh winter will put Europe's telecom infrastructure on the line, forcing companies and governments to try to mitigate the impact.
Four telecoms executives said there are currently insufficient backup systems in many European countries to deal with large-scale blackouts, which increases the possibility of mobile phone outages.
European Union countries, including France, Sweden and Germany, are seeking to ensure communications continue even if power outages cause the use of spare batteries installed on thousands of cellular antennas scattered across their territory.
On European soil, there are nearly half a million telecom towers, most of which have backup batteries that can last for about 30 minutes to power the mobile phone antennas.
Two sources familiar with the matter said the plan presented by France's power distribution company Indes, includes a potential blackout of up to two hours in a worst-case scenario.
Electricity will be cut off to parts of the country alternately. The two sources made it clear that basic services such as hospitals, police and the government would not be affected.
According to the French government and the exporters, the government, telecom companies and Indes, a unit of state-owned EDF, held talks over the summer.
