Due to disruptions in the mobile network, the authorities in many parts of Germany received increased notifications on Thursday afternoon that the emergency number could not be reached. In Bremen and Hamburg, the situation centers issued official hazard reports that the emergency numbers 110 and 112 had been impaired.
The authorities in Berlin, Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg also reported problems in the O2 mobile network – and thus for some citizens when reaching the emergency numbers. The situation calmed down in the evening.
“At the moment there seems to be disruption in the entire Hamburg telephone network. In some cases, both some of our departments and the emergency call 110 are affected,” said a tweet from the Hamburg police. The presence of officers on the street will be massively increased. In NRW, the disturbances initially continued in the evening. The emergency lines were never disturbed, said a spokeswoman for the situation center.
All clear via Katwarn and Nina
After disruptions in cell phone networks in Berlin, the Katwarn and Nina warning systems gave the all-clear in the evening. It said there were no longer any known disruptions in the Berlin area. The Berlin fire brigade had previously received increasing reports that the emergency call 112 could not be dialed. On the part of the fire brigade, however, the emergency call worked, said a spokesman on request. If you can’t get through, it’s because of your own telephone network.
In Bremen, too, the all-clear was given late in the evening. The impairments have been largely remedied, said the situation center. In other federal states, disruptions were initially not known. Deutsche Telekom made it clear that its network was working without any problems.
In the O2 network, cell phone calls in the afternoon were temporarily not possible for some users. The reason for the restrictions on mobile telephony was a fault on a voice transmission server, the company said. However, a large part of the telephone calls can be transmitted via other servers. “We apologize for the inconvenience and ask for your patience.”
Malfunction “almost completely fixed”
In the evening, an O2 spokesman said the technicians had stabilized the network and restored availability with just a few rework. The disruption was “almost completely resolved”. Calls with apps like Whatsapp were consistently possible via the O2 data transfer server.
It was initially not entirely clear why there were such severe restrictions on the accessibility of the emergency numbers in Hamburg and Bremen. The O2 spokesman said that some customers were unable to dial the emergency number due to the restrictions on telephony. “We cannot currently confirm other connections with regard to the availability of emergency calls.”
In Hamburg, citizens should contact a patrol car or a guard if necessary. In an absolute emergency, the DRK emergency number 19222 is occupied by the police, it said.
