During the night to Friday, there were problems with the emergency numbers for the police, the fire service and the health service. If you called 110, 112 or 113, you risked not getting through. – The first error calls occurred at around 11pm yesterday, and at exactly 02.02am the traffic returned to normal, writes press manager at Telenor, Anders Krokan, in an e-mail to news. According to Telenor, the problems led to some calls not going through, or to the calls being routed to another district. – It was a database problem, and our experts quickly located the error and got all traffic back in. Telenor is now reviewing the entire course of events, and it is particularly important to establish full certainty about the root cause, writes Krokan. Now the National Communications Authority is notifying that they are opening inspections after the incident. – The error affected nationally. Errors on emergency numbers are serious for the public. It is serious because people trust that the emergency numbers work, says security director Svein Scheie. The error occurred around 01.45 and was corrected around 02.30, Telenor states. – Particularly important numbers – The emergency numbers are particularly important numbers for the population if they are in need. So a situation where you cannot be sure that you will get through will always get the attention of the authorities and emergency services. That’s according to director Elisabeth Aarsæther in the Directorate for Social Security and Emergency Preparedness (DSB). DSB director Elisabeth Aarsæther. Photo: Lars Tore Endresen / news – Now we have to wait for the report that the National Communications Authority will receive. Then we will see if there are any measures there that are important, or if this was a purely technical incident that could happen, she adds. As far as she knows, the downtime did not have any consequences, other than the emergency numbers being available. – But it is always serious when services that the population potentially depends on in an emergency do not work. Fortunately, it is rare, says Aarsæther. Important to find out what happened This is not the first time there have been mistakes with the emergency numbers. In August, the police emergency number was unavailable for a period due to a technical error. – We take that seriously and follow up with supervision, both for what happened in August and what happened last night, says security director at Nkom Svein Scheie. The DSB director points out that it is in the nature of technology that outcomes can occur. – The most important thing is that we find out what may have happened here, so that next time we can take mitigation measures, says Aarsæther. A duty manager at work for the 110 center for Asker, Bærum and Oslo. The picture is from 2017. Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB She is happy that Nkom will now carry out inspections. – We are so dependent on electronic communication, and the population assumes that it works. That is why it is good that Nkom takes a good look at how such an outcome could happen, says Aarsæther. The error was with Telenor’s Emergency Service until the police directorate was notified that there were several people who did not get through on the emergency number 112. – We worked together with the police’s IT unit to find out the cause, Geir Arne Nessa, emergency service in the Police Directorate, tells news. When Telenor was connected, it turned out that the fault lay with them. The reason is currently unknown, but the police have asked Telenor for feedback on what happened. The fault lay with Telenor. Photo: Emilie Holtet / NTB – What was also a bit challenging was that we received a message that both health (113) and fire (110) had the same problem, says Nessa. A joint press release was sent out for all the emergency services. – We have now received feedback from Telenor that the problem appears to have been resolved. But we will work on monitoring the situation throughout the night, Ness tells news just before 03:00. He further says that they will follow up on follow-up measures if it turns out not to be in order. – We take a critical look at it when 112, 110 and 113 are not available to the public, or when residents cannot contact us, he says. If you cannot reach the emergency number, you can call 02800. Telenor is working to find out the cause of the problems. CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article stated that it was impossible to call emergency numbers. Telenor clarifies to news that it was not impossible, but that there was instability for a period. Published 18.10.2024, at 07.38 Updated 18.10.2024, at 15.11
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