Major telecommunications networks across Spain have gone down early on Tuesday, May 20, 2025, following a network update by Spanish telecommunications giant Telefónica.
The outage has affected fixed-line infrastructure and mobile services nationwide, with particularly severe disruptions reported in Madrid, Barcelona, and other major urban centers.
Widespread Service Disruption
All major providers, including Movistar, Orange, Vodafone, Digimobil, and O2, are experiencing significant downtime, with users reporting inability to make calls or access internet services.
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The technical fault appears to stem from a scheduled network update implemented by Telefónica, which cascaded into a larger system failure affecting multiple carriers that share infrastructure components.
This marks the second major telecommunications disruption in Spain in less than a month, following the severe power outage that affected both Spain and Portugal on April 28, which had already tested the resilience of the country’s telecommunications infrastructure.
Of particular concern is the disruption to emergency services, with the critical 112 emergency number becoming inaccessible in several regions, including Extremadura, Aragón, the Basque Country, and the Valencian Community.
Regional authorities have rapidly activated alternative emergency contact numbers to maintain public safety operations.
“We are advising citizens to use the dedicated police number 091 or medical emergency number 061 if they cannot reach 112,” said Spain’s Civil Protection authority spokesperson.
Telecommunications companies have mobilized crisis response teams like those deployed during the April power outage.
Vodafone Spain announced it has activated backup generators and is currently operating at reduced capacity while technicians work to resolve the issue.
Vodafone representative stated on social media, “We are prioritizing critical infrastructure and managing network resources to maintain essential communications for as long as possible. “
Previous Vulnerability Exposed
This latest incident comes just weeks after industry experts warned about critical vulnerabilities in Spain’s mobile network resilience following the April power outage. During this outage, mobile performance deteriorated sharply, with download speeds falling by as much as 85% in some regions.
Telefónica, which recently partnered with Nokia to enhance its network capabilities for enterprise customers, has acknowledged the outage and stated that teams are working “urgently to restore normal service.”
Authorities advise the public to limit non-essential calls and data usage to prevent further network congestion while restoration efforts continue.
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