Mobile Network Outage Hits Spain Weeks After National Power Cut

Spain has been hit by another major disruption—this time, all major mobile networks went down early Tuesday morning, just four weeks after a national power outage crippled the country’s infrastructure.

Starting around 5:00 AM, users across Spain began reporting connectivity issues on Movistar, Orange, Vodafone, Digimobil, and O2, according to Downdetector. These problems affected both mobile internet and phone services, with some emergency phone lines going offline in several regions.

Authorities later restored emergency lines in Aragon, a region close to the French border. However, other areas remain without reliable service, according to reports by Metro UK.

What Caused the Outage?

Spanish media sources indicate that the affected networks are all contracted with Telefónica, the national telecommunications company. Telefónica confirmed to El Correo that a nationwide network upgrade had taken place, causing temporary disruptions to “specific services.”

Although no official confirmation has been made about the extent of the damage, the outage is widespread and affecting millions of users.

Interestingly, Vodafone services in Barcelona were reportedly unaffected. Vodafone Spain currently serves over 13.5 million mobile customers.

A Pattern of Infrastructure Problems

This mobile network failure comes on the heels of a massive power outage on April 28, 2025, which caused chaos across Spain and Portugal. On that day:

• Public transport systems including metros and trains shut down.

• Petrol stations closed due to lack of power.

• Airports faced widespread delays.

• Traffic lights and communication systems failed.

A British expat in Barcelona told MailOnline during the blackout:

“There were massive queues for buses. The metro was offline, and traffic was in chaos. It felt like the whole city had shut down.”

The Spanish government launched an investigation to determine if that blackout was caused by a cyberattack. While the national court considered the possibility of sabotage, Spain’s power grid operator denied it was a cyberattack, instead blaming potential instability caused by high levels of renewable energy.

Just days before the blackout, Spain had set a milestone—operating its entire power grid on renewable energy (solar, wind, and hydro) for a limited time. However, experts warn that renewables can create volatility, making it harder to manage energy supply and demand.

Expert Insight

Energy consultant Kathryn Porter said:

“The more wind and solar you have, the less stable the grid becomes. There’s a strong chance that solar overload contributed to the scale of the blackout.”

Spain’s Ongoing Struggle

With today’s mobile outage following so closely behind the April power cut, public concern is growing over the resilience of Spain’s infrastructure. The government has yet to release a full report on either incident, but pressure is mounting for answers.