LATEST: The reason for the break in coverage is a damaged cable, says Bjørn Amundsen, head of coverage at Telenor. On Tuesday afternoon, 90 per cent of Bø municipality was without a mobile network. The error was registered at around 16:30 on Tuesday afternoon. Eight out of ten base stations in Bø were out of service. The breach affected, among other things, the security alarms in the municipality. Gnawing damage At around 00.30 on Wednesday night, the error was corrected. The cause must be a damaged cable in the transition from land to sea. – It is probably a gnawing injury, says Bjørn Amundsen on Wednesday morning. It is therefore likely that an animal has gnawed through a cable over time. Last night the operators finished re-establishing all customers online. This means that people in Bø municipality will have coverage again. Mayor Sture Pedersen (H) says that they are monitoring the situation. – We are now checking whether the coverage is in place as stated by Telenor, says Pedersen. Security alarms affected The breach affected, among other things, the security alarms in the municipality. When the mobile network is down, the response service will not be notified if someone needs help. Nevertheless, the mayor believed that they had the situation under control. – We have implemented health personnel who physically drive to the homes of those who have security alarms. It has worked very well. – We have put life and health in focus and believe that we have complete control over that, both in terms of people who need medical attention and the security alarms, of which there are quite a few in the municipality. Bø municipality has implemented crisis staff and mobilized a number of measures. One of the measures is to open the Bøheimen nursing home. – Everyone who cannot be contacted on the phone can visit the nursing home, which is staffed by healthcare personnel, at night. Photo: Telenor The municipality will have an emergency meeting tomorrow morning to find out the way forward, if they are still without a mobile network. Pedersen states that the shops are unable to stay open due to the breach. Telenor is working on Tuesday evening to find and correct the error. Starting troubleshooting Around 9.30pm, Telenor’s people came to Stokmarknes in the neighboring municipality of Hadsel to start troubleshooting there. UNSURE: Head of coverage in Telenor, Bjørn Amundsen, is unsure when they can expect to find the fault. Photo: Andreas Sundby / news – Either the fault is there, or it is over the sea, or it is in Bø. But we have to start somewhere. We hope the fault is in Stokmarknes, but if it is not there, this may take time, says Bjørn Amundsen, head of coverage at Telenor. The fault affects the mobile network in the entire municipality, except for Guvåg and Rambergan. However, the broadband is up, so it is possible to make calls via wifi. – As we have not found the location of the break, it will be difficult to say anything about when this may be in order again. At best during the night, at worst it takes a longer time. Mayor of Bø, Sture Pedersen, is clear that it is unsustainable that the municipalities are so vulnerable in 2023. – This is not sustainable. We are more vulnerable than I realized. I almost feel that the copper network was even stronger than what we have now. We have to make the best of it. But another time it could be more critical than it is now, he says. – We are crossing our fingers that they find the error and that it is repaired. It will be very important. Otherwise, we will be on standby throughout the night.
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Bø municipality was without a mobile network – news Nordland
