Europe's top telecoms operators and emergency service providers are urging Brussels to take action to shield mobile and fixed grids from power cuts, Reuters has reported.
The joint letter sent on Monday is the first formal step by the European Telecommunications Network Operators (ETNO) and the European Emergency Number Association (EENA) to pressure the European Union executive body to step in.
ETNO represents former phone monopolies such as Germany's Deutsche Telekom, Spain's Telefonica and Telecom Italia, while EENA speaks for more than 1,500 emergency services representatives from over 80 countries.
"Should telecommunications networks be subject to planned outages, citizens would risk not having access to communications services for the duration of the outage, including emergency communications," the letter signed by the heads of EENA and ETNO said.
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