The dysfunction of the emergency numbers system at the beginning of June, during which several suspicious deaths occurred, is not the consequence of "
an underinvestment
" on the part of Orange or of a problem on "
the copper network.
", Assured the CEO of the operator Stéphane Richard Wednesday at the National Assembly.
"
It is not a problem of under-investment on the part of Orange, it is not linked to the copper network, it is linked to a pre-existing software bug
" on equipment "
installed in 2016
", explained Stéphane Richard in front of the deputies of the Economic Affairs Committee of the National Assembly, who heard from him on Wednesday.
To read also: Breakdown of emergency numbers "rare and extremely serious": story of a nightmare night for Orange
The "
software bug - which had not yet manifested itself - occurred at the time of a reconnection order (...) during an operation to modernize and extend the network for cope with the increase in traffic that we observed throughout 2020
”detailed Stéphane Richard.
10% of emergency calls could not be routed
On June 2 at the end of the day, numbers 15, 17, 18 and 112 were for many French people inaccessible or reachable only after multiple attempts.
This failure has affected the entire territory in an unprecedented way.
To date, five suspicious deaths have been observed in Morbihan, Haute-Saône, Vendée, Reunion, and Bouches-du-Rhône, during this blackout.
Read also: Failure of emergency numbers: Orange's internal investigation confirms a software problem
According to the findings of the Orange survey published on June 11, 11,800 calls, or 11% of the total, were not routed during the blackout on June 2, between 4:45 p.m. and midnight.
For its CEO, “
this incident is not linked to an underinvestment but to an investment.
All the messages about network obsolescence are irrelevant
, ”he said on Wednesday.
The leader of the operator nevertheless admitted to the deputies "
weaknesses
" in the crisis communication from his group during the blackout.
"
The activation of crisis cells was too slow
"
On June 2, “
the technical mobilization was immediate
” but “
the activation of crisis units, and in particular managerial units, was too slow,
” said Mr. Richard.
The triggering time of these cells "
will go from 2 hours to 30 minutes
", as recommended by the internal investigation of Orange, he recalled.
Read also: Failure of emergency numbers: the government announces an audit of the Orange network and services
If it "
does not belong
" to the operators "
to decide
" on the establishment of a single emergency number, which is currently debated, the use of "
massive SMS sending campaigns (.. .) to the whole population
"to signal a rescue number in the event of a new breakdown, is a measure"
to be considered
"and possible to put in place technically, said Mr. Richard to the deputies.
The CEO of Orange, who also chairs the international association of telecom operators (GSMA), will also propose the creation of "
a unit responsible for listing, analyzing and sharing the experiences of 750 global operators on this type of dysfunction
" a- he told MEPs, after citing a list of similar incidents that occurred at other operators abroad.
