Assisting emergency response on July 7
The need for seamless communication between emergency services and for mobile networks to be truly resilient in times of emergency was never clearer than on 7 July 2005, after the terrorist bombings in central London.
Our GSM network - and our separate TETRA-based mobile network serving the emergency services via O2 Airwave – had to handle extreme conditions and heavy mobile traffic.
After the explosions, call volumes on the O2 network exceeded normal levels and we carried 57 per cent more voice traffic in central London than usual immediately after the 7/7 bombings.
“One defining feature of the recent London bombings was how we all turned to our mobiles to seek information, comfort and reassurance. If ever we needed reminding of the value of our mobile phones, then the terrorist attacks provided a terrible prompt.”
Susanne Lace, Senior Policy Officer, National Consumer Council (as quoted at the O2-sponsored Spiked-online debate: 'Mobile society - Do mobile phones invade our privacy?')
The number of text messages rose 20 per cent on the day across the whole country. Despite network congestion in parts of London, most customers could make calls at some stage during the day.
The situation was complicated by there being four major incidents in a small area. Around noon, we were requested by the City of London Police to apply network-access restrictions.
This made the network unavailable to the public in the immediate area of Aldgate Underground station for several hours, but enabled a pre-authorised list of emergency responders with appropriate SIM cards to continue use.
O2 and the other mobile network operators are currently producing an information pack on emergency planning.
In 2005 O2 UK commissioned The Loyalty Report, a comprehensive study involving more than 1,000 consumers. It found that, while traditional consumer relationships are changing and consumers today can defect from brands periodically.
For more information visit the following pages in our extensive online resource
Issues in brief
O2 plc
- Safety first
- What are the issues?
- Keeping a close watch
- A policy of child protection
- Putting a ring around bullies
- Assisting emergency response on July 7
- What are location-based services?
- A matter of life and death
- Pictures and the law
- Collective action on spam
- When should we intercept?
- Privacy at what price?
- Data retention and protection
- A question of balance
