Phone network incident affecting 112 emergency number resolved

A major incident reported by Telefónica – one of Spain's major phone network operators – has been resolved.

The incident had an impact on the 112 emergency number.

In a video posted on the social network X, the company's Director of Operations, Networks, and Information Technology, Sergio Sánchez, explained that the issue occurred early on Tuesday morning during a network update.

A router malfunction caused disruptions in public services, some companies, and some local services.

The service has since been gradually restored and is now fully operational, except in a few isolated cases, where Telefónica staff have been deployed to resolve the issue.

Sánchez stated that the network incident management committee was activated from the outset. The affected nodes were isolated and teams were dispatched to various locations.

The 112 emergency number experienced issues in several of Spain's Autonomous Communities.

Andalusia, Valencia, Aragon, and the Basque Country had to set up alternative phone numbers for citizens.

In Catalonia, the emergency number experienced minimal disruption thanks to contingency systems that allowed calls to be redirected to other lines.

The 061 emergency medical number also activated its contingency plan and operated normally.

The incident at Telefónica also caused partial disruptions to operations at Caixa d'Enginyers, according to a message the banking cooperative posted on X.

Communications, online banking and phone services were affected. They enabled a WhatsApp service to assist their customers.

Other banks contacted by the Catalan News Agency (ACN), such as Caixabank, confirmed that their operations were not affected by the outage, while Sabadell reported a "very minimal impact" and said that services continued to operate normally.

Likewise, BBVA reported no disruption to its banking operations due to the incident.

Contingency plan

The Catalan civil protection unit told ACN that the disruption was "minimal," as the emergency hotline continued to operate normally.

Phone calls to 112 were redirected through the contingency plans to other numbers.

The 061 health service hotline also detected incidents, but redirected calls, meaning there was no impact on the service for citizens.

Meanwhile, Valencia set up an alternative emergency services number: +34 963 428 000, as did the Basque Country: +34 900 112 088. 

The Andalusian regional government explained that the 112 hotline reported issues between 7.15am and 8.40am on Tuesday morning. 

Meanwhile, Aragon set up an alternative hotline number, but regular services were back working from 10am.

The incident comes just weeks after a mass power outage affected the entire Iberian Peninsula, leaving practically all of Spain, Portugal, and parts of France without electricity for hours. 

Caixa d'Enginyers affected

The incident also affected the operations of the cooperative bank Caixa d'Enginyers, with incidents in their mobile banking services.

"We regret the inconvenience caused by this incident," the entity wrote on social media.

The group has enabled the WhatsApp number +34 646 420 384 to communicate with customers.