Catalonia's TelcoCat service logs 459 telecom outages across 746 municipalities in nine months

Service launch and adoption

The Catalan government launched the TelcoCat protocol in October 2025, creating a direct telephone channel linking municipalities with telecom operators and the Generalitat. The initiative followed serious coverage failures in the Catalan Pyrenees during Christmas 2024, when small municipalities found themselves without adequate support from network operators. As of August 2026, 746 municipalities have joined the service, representing 78.8% of the total. To join, interested localities must register up to three designated contacts to communicate with the relevant operator. The protocol seeks to improve management of massive or critical telecommunications incidents and guarantee connectivity across Catalonia. This is the first time municipalities have had a direct telephone channel with operators to report and track outages.

Incidence data

The service has registered between 450 and 459 incidences and received between 917 and over 1,000 calls since its launch. Of the 459 cases reported by the Generalitat, 294 (64.05%) involved mobile coverage failures, 81 (17.64%) related to broadband issues, 62 (13.51%) were combined mobile and broadband outages, and 22 (4.79%) concerned TDT coverage. Eighty-eight of the total incidences were recurrent, a figure that Albert Tort, Secretary of Telecommunications and Digital Transformation of the Generalitat, called valuable for identifying where operators need to act.

And that shows us the points where we can act to make the network more robust.

Operator participation and government role

More than a dozen operators and entities have joined the protocol, including Vodafone, Telefónica, Orange, Cellnex, Vera, Conecta Wireless, Bivid Telecom, Nexia, Onivia, Parlem, Catalunya Telecom, Adamo, and the Feceminte association. The Generalitat acts as intermediary while operators are responsible for resolving the problems. The protocol obliges telecom companies to account to both the Generalitat and affected municipalities for service interruptions. It also requires the deployment of fibre optic and mobile networks through public-private collaboration with the aim of reaching 100% connectivity across the territory. The service is designed for incidents affecting a significant volume of the population, streamlining the process to collect information and monitor the causes and resolution of outages.

Impact on rural municipalities

The service has been particularly useful for small municipalities, especially during winter months when strong winds and heavy rain concentrate telecommunications failures. Xavier Castellana, councillor of the municipality of Riner and third vice-president of the Consell Comarcal del Solsonès, described the practical impact when fibre optic fails in his area.

It's not that you can't check your email, which you also can't, the problem is that shops, bars and hotels cannot charge customers.

He praised the initiative for giving municipalities a direct line to both the government and operators with a single phone call, but cautioned that sustained success requires continued operator engagement.

Success depends on the operators maintaining the tension in their attention. That they don't relax.

Next steps

The analysis of incidences has led the Generalitat to enable additional measures to guarantee service continuity. The Direcció General d'Infraestructures Digitals has reinforced its team with two staff members dedicated to monitoring activities linked to the telephone service. Tort described the protocol as a paradigm shift in how telecommunications incidents are managed, placing local government, the Generalitat, and operators in the same communication ecosystem for the first time. The recurring incidents provide a map of where network reinforcement is most needed, and the data collected through the service will guide future infrastructure investments.