Proximus reveals priority list for mobile calls

Among those on the priority list were prime minister Charles Michel and federal police chief Catherine De Bolle. “That was the first time we used a priority system,” Leroy said. “Since then, we have drawn up a list of about 120 people who will now have priority all year round, 24 hours a day.”

The problems on 22 March were confined to mobile voice calls, Leroy said. Other services such as text messages and What’sApp worked normally, and there were prominent messages in the media to alert the public not to make voice calls.

There had been two major attacks only an hour apart, and the installation of emergency masts in the royal park and the Jubelpark did little to ease congestion. The saturation reached a peak at 11.00, two hours after the Maalbeek attack and only eased off after 15.00.

“We learned a lot of valuable lessons that day, but we also want to stress that, in such cases, there will always be saturation,” Leroy told the committee. “Telephone traffic was 10 to 20 times higher than usual, and no network anywhere is ready for that.”

In related news, the committee also learned that almost one in four calls made on the Astrid network used by emergency services failed on the day of the attacks, again because of the demand on the system. On 22 March,  there were 2,000 more emergency personnel on the ground than usual, with 10 times the pressure on transmission masts in Brussels and Flemish Brabant. Personnel made a total of 34,000 calls, 8,400 of which failed.

Marc De Buyser, head of the Astrid network, called for more capacity, including new frequencies for a satellite truck.

Photo: Ingimage