Today's Edition
MADRID (AFP)
A partial outage in Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica's fixed telephone and internet networks downed some emergency service numbers for hours on Tuesday, the latest incident affecting critical infrastructure in the country.
Emergency services in several regions including Aragon, Galicia, Extremadura, Andalusia and Valencia published messages on social media at around 9:00 am (0700 GMT) saying the key 112 number was not working.
Telefonica said "upgrade works on the network" had caused the incident that "affected the fixed communications services of some companies and public services", which were "restored completely" by 12:30 pm.
The disruption comes three weeks after a huge blackout of unknown origin plunged all of Spain and Portugal into chaos, sparking a debate about the vulnerability of the power grid.
One week later, the theft of copper cables on a high-speed railway line between Madrid and the southern city of Seville halted trains and left more than 10,000 travellers stranded.
