It is extremely difficult to ensure autonomy of mobile communications and Internet for 10 hours during power outage - mobile operators

Mobile operators note that it is extremely difficult to ensure 100% autonomy of mobile communications and the Internet for 10 hours during power outages.

This is stated in a joint statement by Kyivstar, Vodafone Ukraine and lifecell, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

The message reminds that recently the National Center for Operational and Technical Management of Telecommunications Networks, which manages electronic communication networks during martial law, adopted an order obliging telecommunications operators to ensure 100% autonomy of mobile communications and the Internet for 10 hours during power outages in an extremely short period of time.

At the same time, in order to fulfill these requirements, it is important to supply electricity during the time required to fully charge the backup power equipment.

In particular, it requires permission from electricity suppliers (regional power distribution companies) to increase the power of the electric current feeding the base stations, since the increase in the number of batteries creates a double load on the power system.

"According to approximate calculations, in order to ensure the charging of batteries that will power the base stations of mobile operators for 10 hours in the event of a blackout, the power of about 2.8 GWh of electricity per day will be needed. For this, the power of essentially one nuclear power unit must be used. In connection with this, on July 19, the National Commission for State Regulation of Energy and Public Utilities (Energy Commission) approved the changes aimed at implementing the optimal procedure for consideration by regional power distribution companies of communications operators' applications to increase the power supply for base stations. Operators have already begun to take the first steps together with energy companies within the framework of simplified rules," the statement said.

In addition to the above, operators indicate other factors that affect the fulfillment of the requirements of the National Center for Operational and Technical Management of Telecommunications Networks, such as:

- lack of personnel of operators and subcontractors, sufficient for the maintenance of reserve equipment, and the search for the possibility of reservation of technical workers (according to approximate estimates, the need for additional hiring of specialists amounts to tens of thousands of workers);

- the impossibility of installing and maintaining generators on the roofs of buildings where the majority of base stations are located (especially in large cities with a significant population density, where there is an increased load on the networks), as this is prohibited by the relevant building and sanitary regulations;

- the lack of the required number of rechargeable batteries and stationary generators on the Ukrainian market, the need to purchase them abroad, complicated logistics and long delivery times by foreign suppliers;

- insufficient speed and balance of legislative procedures regarding the change of lease contracts of state and communal property to expand the area occupied by additional cabinets with batteries, etc. So today, the expansion of leased space on state/municipal property requires participation in the auction procedure on Prozorro and takes an average of 6 months;

- the critically unstable situation in the energy sector and long-term power outages lead to deterioration of mobile coverage and quality of services;

"Taking into account the mentioned factors, mobile operators are forced to inform their users that even with the maximum efforts that we certainly make every day, it is extremely difficult to ensure 100% autonomy of mobile communication and the Internet for 10 hours during power outages. All three operators continue to work on strengthening the energy stability of their networks, focusing on the real terms and scope of work, which are determined by objective external factors," the statement reads.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, mobile operators were required to ensure 10 hours of network operation during power outages.

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