Ahrtal: Mobile communications work again and promise crisis security

A year ago, the Ahr Valley, Rhineland-Palatinate, suffered a devastating flood that devastated entire areas and wiped out human lives. The cleanup efforts in the region will take some time. But at least mobile networks now seem to be working again – better than ever.

Mobile operators promise better disaster response

When masses of water flooded the Ahr Valley on July 14, 2021, telecommunications also succumbed. It took a year to restore mobile communications. But it is not only to be back to its old state. The operators have also promised that the new technology will be better able to withstand possible future floods. This is also important. After all, the flood showed how important functioning telecommunications are in disaster situations. For example, mobile communications failed unceremoniously on the horror night of July 14-15. As a result, many residents of the Ahr valley could no longer be reached.

Conversely, they were unable to call for help or give the all-clear to their relatives. The operators believe that the cause of the widespread outage was torn away power cables that had been laid in the earth’s interior. To prevent possible similarly dire scenarios, those responsible had quickly decided to revise the new technology. It had to be “future-proof and resilient,” according to Digitalization Ministry of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate.

Crisis-proof Ahr Valley with satellite support

But how do you make telecommunications systems crisis-proof? One possibility is to provide support with mobile satellites. These are used as a backup, so to speak, if a classic radio mast should ever be defective. As a well-known network provider, Vodafone has ensured that such satellite technology has now been greatly increased. But to be prepared for emergencies on the ground as well, Vodafone relies on a large number of emergency power generators. But Telekom has not remained idle for its customers, of course. For example, the network provider has focused on new locations for its exchanges, which offer more protection for the technology in the event of a flood.

Just in case, Telekom now also has special mobile radio stations in use that are mobile. Like Vodafone, Telekom probably also wants to support mobile communications with satellites. However, this is still in the trial phase. It’s amazing what damage the flood caused in the Ahr Valley. But sometimes a small rodent is enough to bring about devastating consequences for telecommunications. Just recently, a beaver caused a gigantic blackout in Canada. Maybe we should all go back to Starlink after all. Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s satellite Internet already supported the Ahr Valley with a stable network last year.