Vodafone accelerates resilience strategy after European blackout, reinforcing more than 10,000 critical sites with AI-optimised backup power

Vodafone accelerates resilience strategy after European blackout, reinforcing more than 10,000 critical sites with AI-optimised backup power

(IN BRIEF) Vodafone has launched the Enhanced Power programme to improve telecom resilience across Europe and Africa, combining AI-driven power-management technology with expanded backup capabilities at more than 10,000 critical mobile infrastructure sites. The initiative was accelerated after a major blackout in April 2025 caused widespread connectivity loss in Portugal and parts of Spain and France. New AI systems can autonomously extend emergency runtime, help maintain mobile services and reduce emissions by prioritising backup power only where required. The strategy enables response across three outage levels — local, regional and national — supported by COW units, INER teams and strengthened contingency coverage for core and aggregation sites. Vodafone is also exploring satellite connectivity for emergency environments and Virtual Power Plant energy-sharing frameworks with other operators. In Africa, Vodacom is using AI to reduce diesel usage during load-shedding while improving network availability. Vodafone stresses that long-term resilience requires governmental policy support, investment and regulatory alignment to safeguard essential telecommunications during major outages.

(PRESS RELEASE) BERKSHIRE, 28-Nov-2025 — /EuropaWire/ — Vodafone has launched an accelerated Enhanced Power resilience programme, designed to strengthen network reliability for emergency and critical digital services across Europe and Africa. The initiative introduces a combined approach of AI-powered outage prediction and enhanced backup power capability, ensuring continuity for essential connectivity even during large-scale disruptions affecting telecoms infrastructure.

Digital society depends on stable mobile and internet access — from GPS navigation and emergency response coordination to banking, transport networks and daily communication. When networks fail, the impact is immediate and widespread. With climate-related power instability and extreme weather events on the rise, Vodafone is fast-tracking resilience adaptations to prevent service breakdowns during major outages.

The programme was accelerated following an April 2025 blackout that severely affected telecommunications, banking and transport services in Portugal and parts of Spain and France. At peak disruption, roughly 60% of Portuguese mobile users lost or struggled to maintain connectivity. Vodafone’s Enhanced Power initiative now aims to reinforce over 10,000 critical mobile sites across Europe — prioritising emergency-service communications, hospitals, government facilities, airports and other essential infrastructure. Rollout begins in Portugal and will continue across Vodafone’s European markets over the next two years.

Central to the initiative is a new AI-driven Adaptive Power Backup system, capable of autonomously extending battery life by shutting down non-essential radio equipment and keeping core emergency channels active. The system maximises backup runtime, improves outage response management and reduces emissions through more efficient power use — maintaining services substantially longer than current industry standards. Vodafone expects this capability to double backup duration under specific conditions.

Local, Regional and National Outage Scenarios

For localised failures affecting up to 10 mobile sites, Vodafone will continue to deploy Cells on Wheels (COWs) and provide emergency connectivity through its Instant Network Emergency Response (INER) teams, which offer charging stations and free Wi-Fi during humanitarian operations. INER engineers have supported more than 28 global disaster deployments, including the most recent response in Jamaica during Hurricane Melissa.

For regional disruptions spanning tens or hundreds of sites, Vodafone will implement a mix of portable network systems and Adaptive Power Backup intelligence to prolong system endurance until power is restored.

For major nationwide or cross-border outages, Vodafone has outlined a structured resilience plan including:

• Core mobile facilities: 400+ strategic data centres with diesel and battery systems providing a minimum 72 hours of backup coverage 
• Aggregation sites: minimum 4-hour battery autonomy to preserve key routing infrastructure 
• Critical access points: over 10,000 radio/backhaul sites equipped with minimum 4-hour backup power as phase one of a broader energy-security upgrade 

Vodafone is also exploring satellite-based fallback connectivity for emergency responders, enabling communication even in remote or high-impact disaster zones.

AI Deployment and Market Expansion

Adaptive Power Backup technology is live in Greece and undergoing testing in Turkey, with further deployments planned for 2026. The system significantly reduces the need for large-scale battery installations — a critical cost mitigation factor given Ofcom estimates that 4-hour battery backup across every UK mobile site could require £2.2–£4.4 billion (€2.6–€5.2 billion) in one-time investment, with comparable investment scales across Europe.

To improve both sustainability and financial feasibility, Vodafone is exploring opportunities to share power infrastructure with other operators and energy providers through Virtual Power Plant (VPP) models. Such aggregated energy flexibility could enable network sites to trade surplus capacity back into the grid — generating value, reducing emissions and improving national grid stability. Only a few markets including Germany, Ireland and the UK are mature enough to support this model, highlighting the need for wider regulatory advancement and government-aligned incentives.

Africa-Focused Deployment Through Vodacom

In regions facing routine power instability, Vodacom — Vodafone’s African business — is deploying AI-enabled energy management to counter load-shedding disruptions. The system intelligently prioritises renewable sources and optimises generator usage, achieving an early 10–15% reduction in diesel consumption, fewer site interventions and improved uptime performance for customers and emergency services.

Policy Alignment and Government Partnership

Vodafone’s resilience programme is aligned with the European Union’s evolving network-security and infrastructure-protection frameworks. The company emphasises that long-term telecom resilience will require joint support from governments, regulators and industry, particularly where large-scale backup power installation is necessary to maintain critical services during extreme events.

Vodafone states that network resilience cannot rely solely on operators, and calls for shared investment mechanisms, co-funding opportunities and policy alignment to safeguard Europe’s connectivity infrastructure and ensure continuity during future disruption scenarios.

SOURCE: Vodafone Group