Ecuador’s telecommunications and internet associations warned this Friday about the impact of the power outages announced by the government on the provision of telecommunications services. They expressed that despite the rationalization of electricity, they will try to minimize interruptions in internet and mobile phone services.

The press release is signed by the Association of Telecommunications Companies (Asetel), the Association of Internet Service Providers, Operators and Information Technologies (Aeprovi) and the National Association of Value Added Internet and Telecommunication Service Providers (Aprosva).

They explain that due to the power outage, announced for 4 hours in the Sierra and Amazonia, and 3 hours on the coast, fixed, mobile and satellite telecommunications networks could be affected.

The document states that the operators are focusing their efforts on “maintaining the continuity of service provision through alternative energy sources such as batteries, generators, etc., which in the case of mobile service means that in “As far as possible, calls and browsing will continue to be available, and there may be some interruptions.”

The influence of the Internet

However, for the fixed internet service, they explain that they are 100% dependent on the electricity supply, which implies that during planned blackouts, internet access will be compromised.

They asked users for understanding in the face of these force majeure events that directly affect the provision of public telecommunications services. At the same time, they explained that they are working on implementing the necessary actions to keep the services operational.