Leiria, Portugal, July 23, 2026 (Lusa) - Socialist Party (PS) MPs elected in Leiria questioned the government on Thursday about the ongoing telecommunications failures six months after Storm Kristin severely affected the region, asking about the timeframe for the full restoration of services.
In a question addressed to the minister for infrastructure and housing, Miguel Pinto Luz, MPs Eurico Brilhante Dias and Catarina Louro stated that «reports indicate that hundreds of households and businesses in the district of Leiria continue to await access to fixed telecommunications services, namely telephone, internet and television».
On Tuesday, the National Communications Authority (Anacom) told Lusa that around 1,600 customers, mostly in the Leiria region, were still awaiting the restoration of fixed-line communications services.
«According to data recently provided by operators, there are around 1,600 fixed-line connections still affected following Storm Kristin (less than 0.01% of the fixed-line connections initially affected), with the Leiria region accounting for the highest number of these cases,» the body responsible for regulating the communications sector and space-related activities said.
According to the MPs, who regard the situation as urgent, there are «particularly serious cases» in the municipalities of Alvaiázere, Ansião and Marinha Grande.
«Reports from local councillors and residents reveal a challenging reality: businesses facing operational difficulties, citizens struggling to access essential services, remote workers relocating, and telecommunications infrastructure still scattered across the countryside, which is also jeopardising agricultural work,» the document said.
In the parliamentary question, tabled in parliament, the MPs wish to know «what assessment the government has made of the persistence of faults in the telecommunications networks», how many customers remain without access to fixed telecommunications services, broken down by municipality, and whether «there is a timetable, by municipality and by parish, for the full restoration of telecommunications infrastructure and services».
The Socialists also wish to know what steps the government led by Social Democrat Luís Montenegro has taken «in conjunction with telecoms operators and Anacom», as well as its assessment of the legislative proposals put forward by the regulator «to strengthen the resilience of telecoms networks and improve the coordination of recovery operations following extreme weather events».
The measures planned «to ensure the rapid restoration of poles and cables still damaged in the district of Leiria and to prevent the recovery from continuing to suffer delays due to a lack of coordination between authorities» and the measures the government intends to «adopt to ensure that telecommunications infrastructure has greater resilience in the face of future extreme weather events» are the other questions raised by the two MPs.
At least 19 people died in Portugal between late January and early March following the passage of storms Kristin on 28 January and Leonardo and Marta, which also left several hundred people injured, homeless and displaced. More than half of the deaths occurred during repair operations.
The storms, which battered the mainland for around three weeks, particularly in the Centre, Lisbon and Tagus Valley, and Alentejo regions, caused the total or partial destruction of thousands of homes, businesses and facilities; the collapse of trees and structures; power, water and communications cuts; and flooding, resulting in losses exceeding €5 billion.
SR/ADB // ADB.
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