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News Tag: uncategorized

Are Europeans safe while travelling? European Commission recognises upcoming loss of access to 112 while roaming

January 6, 2026 Sanna Antila

In December 2025, the European Commission took a significant step in addressing the risk that tourists may lose effective access to emergency services while travelling in other EU Member States. In a response to a written Parliamentary Question from MEP Elena Kountoura (Left, EL), which noted that tourists risked losing full access to emergency services […]

2G/3G switch-off to block certain phones from emergency calls in Sweden

November 25, 2025 Sanna Antila

Sweden’s 2G and 3G networks will be shut down in December 2025, and the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PTS) is warning that some 4G phones will no longer be able to reach 112 once the old networks disappear. Although these devices can make normal VoLTE calls, they do not support emergency calls over 4G, […]

EU wide study finds growing support for EU actions to protect its citizens during crises

October 2, 2025 Sanna Antila

Earlier this month, the European Parliament published the results of its biannual survey of EU citizens. These studies assess how Europeans feel about the EU, and which priorities they think the EU should focus on. The September 2025 survey found clear majorities in favour of increased EU action to protect its citizens during crises, and […]

A picture of telephones and desktops on a table.

Emergency call outage in Australia linked to multiple deaths

September 22, 2025 Sanna Antila

A network failure at Australian telecommunications network provider Optus has been linked to at least three confirmed deaths after hundreds of emergency calls in South Australia, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory failed to connect. The disruption, caused by a botched firewall update during a network upgrade, blocked more than 600 emergency calls. The outage, […]

How cybersecure are our telecom networks? EU Agency publishes report on NIS2 sectors

September 10, 2025 Sanna Antila

In August 2025, the European Commission published the findings of ENISA’s 2025 Cybersecurity Maturity & Criticality Assessment of NIS2 sectors. This report, also known as the NIS360 2024, is intended to assist Member States in identifying gaps and prioritising resources to improve cybersecurity in sectors covered by the Directive on Protecting Network and Information Systems […]

European Commission outlines plans to improve earthquake responses to EU Parliament Security and Defence Vice Chair

August 25, 2025 Sanna Antila

On 21 August, the European Commission responded to a written Parliamentary question from Mihai Tudose, a Romanian S&D MEP, former Prime Minister, and now Vice Chair of the EU Parliament’s Security and Defence Committee, on how it would use its new EU Stockpiling and Medical Countermeasures strategies to improve its earthquake preparedness. Tudose welcomed these new strategies […]

More funding for 112? NATO countries agree to spend 1.5% of GDP on improving preparedness and resilience

July 17, 2025 Annita Elissaiou

On 25 June, NATO allies agreed to allocate up to 1.5% of their gross domestic product annually toward civil preparedness and resilience. This new agreement could have significant positive consequences for access to 112 over the next decade, by channelling additional funding to improving critical infrastructure such as PSAPs, and to improving the coverage and resilience of 112. […]

European Accessibility Act begins applying across the EU

June 30, 2025 Sanna Antila

On 28 June 2025, the European Accessibility Act began applying across the EU and EEA. This Directive, which creates harmonised rules for accessible services and products, was the first EU law to identify specific types of accessibility features which EU and EEA Member States had to make available to people with disabilities so they can […]

EU to publish “less ambitious” Digital Networks Act on 16 December 2025

June 3, 2025 Sanna Antila

The European Commission will publish its long-anticipated Digital Networks Act (DNA) on 16 December 2025, according to Politico. However, the DNA, recently described by European Commission Executive Vice President Henna Virkkunen as the biggest digital act of 2025, is expected to be less ambitious than the complete overhaul of digital rules proposed in the 2024 […]

New study highlights the critical role of 112 in boosting disaster resilience across Europe

April 29, 2025 Sanna Antila

A new study published in the International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction underlined the key role which emergency communications can play in improving responses to disasters. As the risk of climate and geopolitical disasters in Europe grows, this study outlines an aspect of 112 which makes it central to resilience and disaster response in Europe. […]