Estonia and operators deny drone alert prompted mobile shutdown

Estonia’s Defence Forces, communications regulator and mobile operators denied that a drone warning overnight led to a mobile network shutdown, ERR reported.

The denials followed a report by Postimees about a reader’s claim that mobile service and internet access disappeared briefly in Ülenurme, in Tartumaa, shortly before an air threat alert. The reader said the outage lasted from 3:09 to 3:12 and asked whether mobile networks were being switched off during air alerts.

The Defence Forces said they were not involved in any mobile or internet outages in Ülenurme or elsewhere in Estonia. The Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority (TTJA) said it had received no information about the incident and considered a link to the drone threat unlikely. Its deputy director-general Oliver Gailan said the brief duration could indicate planned network maintenance, which is usually scheduled for nighttime.

Telia, Elisa and Tele2 said they had received no government order to suspend mobile service. Telia reported no outages or disruptions at its base stations in Ülenurme. Elisa said it had not suspended service anywhere in Estonia.

Tele2 said it carried out planned network work overnight that affected service for very short periods at different times across Estonia. The company said the drone threat had not affected its services and that it had not switched off mobile communications because of it.

The Defence Forces issued an air threat warning for much of Estonia overnight. An alert sent at 3:12 advised people in southern counties to take shelter if they saw a drone and call 112. Later alerts extended the warning to Lääne-Viru and Ida-Viru counties. The warning was lifted across the country by 6:33.

Ukraine attacked the Ust-Luga port in Russia, near the Estonian border, with drones overnight, causing a large fire, the article said.