75 new cell phone stations were built in Odesa region ahead of possible blackouts

Over the past year, 75 mobile base stations have been built in Odesa region – an increased number of them can help during blackouts. They were also equipped with new batteries designed for at least 8 hours of operation. During this time, mobile operators must connect generators.

Ivan Tymoshenko, acting director of the Department of Digital Development, Information Policy and Cyber Defense of the Odesa Regional State Administration, said this at a briefing at the Ukraine-Odesa Media Center.

After last year’s blackouts, Kyivstar built 48 new base stations, Vodafone Ukraine – 9, and Lifecell – 18. The minimum autonomous life of these stations to be guaranteed by mobile operators is 72 hours, the official said.

“Generators and fuel reserves are prepared. Mobile operators have also taken measures to replace old batteries. They are now using new lithium batteries that charge quickly and allow them to work for 8 hours without interruption. There will be time to form operational groups to eliminate problems with power supply  using generators,” Tymoshenko said.

In the event of a blackout, during the 8 hours that the batteries are designed to last, mobile operators must provide communication to the main administrative locations and install diesel generators there.

 “We have been buying diesel generators and new batteries, and we have redesigned our network a bit. Of course, we developed it and built new base stations. Plus, one such station will help everyone in case of a blackout. It will increase the strength of our network,” said Kyrylo Lazarev, head of Vodafone Ukraine-Odesa, at a briefing.

According to Mr. Tymoshenko, the administration, together with supermarkets and retailers in the region, is also planning to create sites for receiving Wi-Fi internet. That will be needed in case the strength of the base stations is not enough for mobile Internet during the blackout.

“The number of users per base station grew very strongly during blackouts. We densified the coverage and expanded the transmission capacity at the base stations as much as we could,” confirmed Igor Zadorozhny, a leading mobile network planning engineer at Lifecell.

Representatives of the operators could not name the total amount of money spent on improving the network, but clarified that each base station can cost from 500 thousand to 3 million hryvnias.

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