Power outages highlight the need for mission-critical infrastructure
Yesterday, widespread power outages occurred in Spain, Portugal, and large parts of France, lasting up to 12 hours in some areas. While mobile networks collapsed in many places due to the failure of backup batteries, traditional TV and radio broadcast systems remained active thanks to their highly resilient infrastructure, ensuring that the population still had access to information.
In Austria, the slogan “in case of disaster, turn on your TV and radio” is more relevant than ever. Even in extreme situations, the ORF subsidiary ORS guarantees a robust and reliable infrastructure. This reliability is made possible through the independent delivery of signals to terrestrial transmitter sites and the continuous power supply from emergency systems.
Can the resilience of Austria’s TV and radio transmission facilities be further strengthened?
While mobile phones may remain operational for hours during network failures, they become largely isolated when mobile networks collapse. A complementary solution for broad resilience and security is the adoption of the new 5G Broadcast standard. This technology allows for the direct transmission of warning messages via TV and radio transmitters, independent of mobile networks and without a feedback channel.
5G Broadcast is an established transmission standard that has been successfully tested in several countries. Last week, Estonia launched a two-year project called “Pocket Siren”, which investigates the effectiveness of transmitting population warnings through TV and radio systems.
What is needed to reliably reach all citizens in the future?
A coordinated approach at a European level! Mandatory integration of 5G Broadcast warning reception capability on all mobile phones can only be achieved through that. The necessary adjustments are minimal: tests in various European countries and on devices from numerous manufacturers, including OnePlus, Motorola, and Xiaomi, show that it is technically straightforward to equip devices with the required functionality.
Europe needs a resilient, independent, and comprehensive population warning infrastructure that works across all channels – TV, radio, and mobile phones via 5G Broadcast. It is about time to implement this life-saving technology throughout Europe,” demands Michael Wagenhofer, CEO of ORS.