Transport minister to meet operators over network resilience after storm
Transport Minister Rihards Kozlovskis will meet mobile operators and LVRTC on Wednesday to discuss improving telecom network resilience following storm-related outages. The ministry says it is treating the situation seriously.
Latvia's Transport Minister Rihards Kozlovskis (JV) has called a meeting for Wednesday, August 26, with representatives of mobile network operators and the state company Latvian State Radio and Television Centre (LVRTC), the Transport Ministry told LETA. The goal is to agree on measures needed to strengthen the resilience of communications networks.
The ministry said it is taking seriously the mobile network disruptions caused by the recent storm. The meeting aims to clarify why communications were unavailable for several hours in some areas and to identify systemic shortcomings in network operations.
Possible next steps
Among the potential measures already identified by the ministry are analyzing the causes of the outages and the performance of backup power supplies, developing risk-based resilience requirements for strategically important network elements, advancing a national roaming solution for emergencies, and exploring the use of the EU's Govsatcom satellite communications program for crisis management purposes.
The ministry noted that mobile communications are a service provided by private companies, meaning the state does not dictate specific technical solutions for individual base stations. It stressed that its aim is not to over-regulate the sector, but to set a minimum resilience level that the public can reasonably expect from electronic communications infrastructure during emergencies, while letting operators choose the most effective ways to meet those requirements.
Storm damage
On Saturday, August 22, and the following night, Latvia was hit by its strongest summer storm in recent decades, with wind gusts locally exceeding 30 meters per second. The storm caused extensive damage to both distribution and transmission power grids, initially cutting electricity to around 277,000 customers nationwide. The power outages in turn left many areas without phone or internet service, and in some places fuel stations and shops were also affected.
