Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport, Patrick O'Donovan, has this week outlined to the government the ongoing work to improve emergency response and resilience standards in telecommunications networks, following Storm Éowyn earlier this year.

Storm Éowyn had an unprecedented impact on telecommunications networks.

The impact of power loss on the sector during the storm, and delays to repair of overhead lines in some areas afterwards, had significant effects on citizens, particularly in rural areas of the north and west.

Since then, the government, industry and the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) have undertaken significant engagement to address gaps in sectoral preparedness and response.

Minister O'Donovan said: “Since Storm Éowyn, the telecommunications sector has recognised that improvements to resilience and emergency response are vital and it is encouraging to see industry take efforts to make their networks more resilient, and to engage with my department and ComReg to reduce the impacts of future storms.

"It is imperative that we continue with this momentum, and I look forward to seeing further progress.”

Storm resilience

Through a newly formed Telecommunications Response and Resilience Group (T-RRG), chaired by the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport, the sector will work together to:

Improve the physical and power resilience of networks;
Coordinate and communicate more effectively during emergencies;
Prioritise key infrastructure to provide minimum levels of connectivity during emergencies.

Operators have independently assessed their preparedness and committed to a variety of network-specific measures, including:

Reviewing the power requirements of sites;
Acquiring additional back-up battery and generator capacity;
Preventative network maintenance;
Enhancing redundancy with back-up routes to their core networks ;
Accelerating the use of satellites to provide additional resilience.

ComReg has also recently published an information notice setting out steps it has taken in relation to severe weather events.

Noting the importance of all communications services during a storm, the minister also thanked An Post staff for the societal role they played during Storm Éowyn, assisting the principal response agencies by making direct contact with persons affected in remote areas.