Nationwide Telecommunications Outage Strikes Spain Amid Infrastructure Concerns

On May 20, 2025, Spain experienced a nationwide telecommunications outage that rendered emergency phone lines inoperable for hours. The interruption stemmed from planned upgrades by Telefónica, raising concerns about the country's infrastructure following a similar outage weeks prior.

A nationwide telecommunications outage hit Spain on Tuesday, disrupting emergency services across multiple regions for several hours, just weeks after a significant blackout left millions stranded. The incident began early in the morning when a planned network upgrade by Telefónica, one of Spain's largest telecommunications companies, caused widespread outages affecting landline and internet services, rendering vital emergency number 112 inaccessible in several areas.

In response to the network failure, emergency services in regions such as Valencia, Aragón, and the Basque Country quickly resorted to social media to share alternative mobile numbers for urgent situations. Similarly, local authorities in Catalonia and Extremadura reported impacts to their 112 services but assured that contingencies were in place to manage the crisis. The government of Andalusia confirmed the national emergency line issues but announced that restoration efforts were underway.

By late morning, Telefónica announced that it had restored full service, with Minister of Digital Transformation Óscar López expressing gratitude to the company for its swift response to the outage. According to 2023 statistics, Telefónica serves over 41 million customers and has a near monopoly on Spain's landline network. Reports from the outage tracking site Downdetector showed a surge in connectivity problems among other major providers like Movistar, O2, and Orange.

This incident follows a major power outage in Spain and Portugal last month, which lasted 18 hours and paralyzed transport systems while prompting public scrutiny of the nation’s infrastructure management. Last month’s power crisis raised questions about the reliability of utility services in the region, costing businesses millions and highlighting the urgent need for improvements in national infrastructure resilience. As investigations into the causes of the earlier blackout continue, public criticism concerning Spain's handling of its infrastructure challenges has intensified.

Lynsey Chutel covers breaking news in Europe, while Qasim Nauman is an editor reporting on global events.