Spanish telcos have reported severe network issues caused by the nationwide grid outage.

Both Spain and Portugal have been hit by widespread power outages today, bringing several major cities to a standstill.

Vodafone Spain
– Getty Images

The outages have led to Internet issues and forced the Spanish rail network to shut down. Valencia and Barcelona were rendered completely without power.

It's not known what has caused the nationwide outage, but the impact has also been felt by telecom carriers in Spain, with 5G, Internet, and data services also affected.

Vodafone posted on social media this afternoon that its network is "temporarily operating at 70 percent capacity." In a post on X, the carrier said that it's operating at reduced capacity "thanks to backup generators, but its functionality will depend on the duration of the issue."

The company added: "In parallel, measures are being taken to maintain communications for as long as possible, prioritizing and managing resources and network capacity in the most efficient way."

Vodafone hasn't been the only operator affected by the chaos, with MásOrange confirming to Spanish publication El Confidencial that it's using gasoline-powered generators to keep power on in its offices.

Other telcos including Telefónica and Digi have also been impacted.

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has told reporters that "mobile phones should be used responsibly."

Exact information on what caused the blackouts has yet to be revealed. However, it seems to have impacted most cities in Spain and Portugal, as well as some regions in France.

Portuguese grid operator E-Redes attributed the outage to "a problem with the European electricity system" and said it had to cut power in specific areas to stabilize the network.

Spanish grid operator Red Electrica said it is currently working with energy companies to restore power.

CloudFlare reported that Internet traffic dropped by as much as 30 percent in Portugal and 37 percent in Spain at 10:30am (UTC).

Meanwhile, Barcelona Cabling Landing Station reported that its operations have remained unaffected.

"Despite the ongoing power issues affecting Southern Europe, all submarine cables and clients hosted at the Barcelona Cable Landing Station (CLS) remain fully operational and unaffected," said BLCS on LinkedIn.

This is a developing story. We will update it as we learn more.