“In relation to the loss of service, we inform you that it has already been resolved, but to have the portable terminals and bases fully operational again, they must be restarted. We apologize for any inconvenience caused.” This message traveled yesterday the municipalities of Tenerife to report the Tetra Rescan global telecommunications system crash. The problem affected from approximately 8:30 in the morning and for several hours with variables according to the zones. It had a provincial character and forced to activate in the majority of the cases own alternatives of the municipalities. The objective was to guarantee contact with the local police, above all, but also with ambulances, the Canary Islands Emergency Service (SUC), civil protections, emergency helicopters…
This network depends on the General Directorate of Telecommunications and New Technologies of the Government of the Canary Islands, although it is the one used in the area of Security and Emergencies of the Autonomous Executive as well as by the General Corps of the Canary Islands Police.
Once its restoration was communicated, it was necessary to wait a while for the equipment and servers to restart. Little by little the line was recovered, although at the beginning without the usual fullness and power.
In the capital, Santa Cruz, the sources consulted explain that it was not particularly affected by having its own backup network. They consider that “the responsibility of the city council is to have a redundant telecommunications network and what has been done is to distribute equipment and stations to the Local Police or Civil Protection.”
All these troops communicated until Tetra Rescan was restored through that network to which the municipal security and emergency vehicles were also able to connect.
In El Rosario, the Local Police has its own communication system for day-to-day work called PMR. The Tetra is only used in emergencies
La Orotava saw how its internal communication system in the services was affected and did not recover until around one in the afternoon.
The municipality of Los Realejos also had incidents, although they assure that “this type of temporary interruptions usually coincide with maintenance tasks, of which the Government of the Canary Islands gives prior notice. In fact, at 1:40 p.m. a notice was received regarding the restoration of the multiple SBS service of the Tetra Rescan network». There were hardly any serious problems.
The Arona City Council did register some difficulty. For just over an hour the police stations were left without coverage. Then normal service was restored
Lastly, in Adeje, along the same lines as the rest, the incidence did not have many consequences and even less serious ones. It was a problem of a short time “and it was solved with other systems”. the municipal sources of Adejeras point out.
