An accidental fibre optic cut in Villanueva de la Concepción has left over 120,000 residents in inland Málaga without data or calls for more than three hours. The service was fully restored by 14:15.
The cut of a fibre optic cable near Villanueva de la Concepción, which occurred around 11:00 on Thursday, has left over 120,000 people in the interior of Málaga province without internet connection and mobile coverage. The fault, which sources from Movistar attribute to an accident, has heavily impacted Antequera, Ronda, and Coín, according to Diario Sur.
The outage has blocked basic services. In shops and pharmacies, it was impossible to process payments with card readers or access health cards for dispensing medication. Communications via WhatsApp were also down, and in many places, it was even impossible to make a phone call. Most mobile phones from various companies appeared to be switched off.
Technicians have been working on the restoration since the fault was detected, but full recovery did not occur until after 14:00. In Coín, the signal returned earlier, albeit intermittently: the Town Hall described the situation as a carousel, with the service coming and going until 14:15. In Ronda, the disconnection persisted at noon, and in municipalities of the Serranía like Cuevas del Becerro, phones still had no coverage.
“We are without coverage, all networks have gone down, there is no internet and shops cannot process payments because cards are not working,” said the Andalusian parliament member from the PP, Jota Carmona, who had to leave Antequera to be able to speak on the phone.
The socialist councillor in the Antequera Town Hall, José Luis Ruiz Espejo, confirmed that the municipality was left without access to the telephone network and data. In Antequera, the signal began to recover around 12:30, although it did not return to the Town Hall until 14:30. The Association of Commerce and Industries of Antequera (ACIA) estimates that the outage lasted between 11:20 and 12:30.
The blackout rendered public administrations, banks, and shops inoperable for much of the morning, causing them to lose a working day. Calls to municipal phones, Civil Protection, and the Andalusian Employment Service in Ronda returned the message that the number does not correspond to any user.
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