Most Norwegians feel unprepared for a prolonged loss of internet and mobile coverage. 63% of respondents said their households were quite or very poorly prepared for such an outage, according to a new survey reported by VG on Monday, 26 October.
The survey was conducted by Norstat for the Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection (Direktoratet for samfunnssikkerhet og beredskap, DSB). It involved 1,056 adults interviewed through an online panel in October. Only 31% described their households as well or very well prepared, according to DSB’s official results.
Norwegians know the advice, but many lack a plan
There is a considerable gap between awareness and preparation. 90% of those surveyed knew that Norwegian authorities recommend households be able to manage on their own for one week if essential services fail.
Yet only 47% reported access to a DAB radio powered by batteries, a hand crank or solar cells, and 54% said they had a charged power bank. Another 61% did not know where they could obtain information from their municipality if digital communications were unavailable. Just 29% said they knew where to go.
How Norway is preparing for network outages
The findings were released at the start of Emergency Preparedness Week 2026 (Egenberedskapsuka), which this year focuses on disruptions to mobile networks and internet access. DSB and the Norwegian Communications Authority (Nasjonal kommunikasjonsmyndighet, Nkom) are asking households to develop alternatives to the digital services they use every day.
In their joint preparedness advice, the agencies recommend keeping a battery-powered DAB radio, charging power banks, recording important telephone numbers on paper and finding out where local authorities will provide information during an outage. NRK P1 is Norway’s designated emergency radio channel and can provide official information without an internet connection.
The authorities also encourage people to find an emergency preparedness friend, someone they can exchange help or supplies with and agree to meet if they cannot contact one another. Households are advised to store around 20 litres of drinking water per person and plan how to stay warm during a power cut.
A recent mobile failure showed the consequences
The survey follows a significant network disruption on 8 October. According to DSB’s account of the incident, problems affecting Telenor’s mobile service prevented some customers from reaching emergency telephone numbers and halted rail traffic across Norway. The dedicated emergency communications network used by responders continued to function.
That disruption was not the prolonged nationwide outage envisaged in the survey. But it illustrated the dependence of essential services on communications infrastructure, as the government asks more households to prepare for an extended interruption.
