Several cities and municipalities in Flanders have announced that they do not have internet, and their online services and IT networks are disrupted on Tuesday morning.
The issue is a general problem at Belnet, the internet provider for government services in Belgium, which is currently working on a solution.
The problems started at around 5:00 AM on Tuesday morning, presumably after a software update on the Belnet network. In total, the problems are affecting between 90 and 100 municipalities in the Limburg, West Flanders, Antwerp and Flemish Brabant provinces, which are the areas formerly covered by the Infrax network, reports De Standaard.
Apart from the cities and municipalities, the KU Leuven campus situated in the city of Kortrijk, the HoWest university college of the West Flanders province, and the Vives high school in West Flanders are also experiencing issues. The hospitals in the city of Hasselt and Ghent are operating without issues.
"This mainly concerns clients connected to the hubs in Bruges, Hasselt and Kortrijk," said Davina Luyten of Belnet, reports VRT. "Our priority at the moment is to restore connectivity for all our customers as soon as possible. In close cooperation with our external supplier, we are trying to resolve the incident as quickly as possible. Our teams are also on their way to the hubs where the problem occurred. The cause of the incident is unknown so far," she added.
#Nieuws 1 op 3 gemeenten heeft netwerkproblemen. Het gaat niet om hacking, wel om een technisch defect bij de provider. De provider doet er alles aan om het probleem zo snel mogelijk op te lossen. https://t.co/jdImDkBoxp
— VVSG (@vvsg) January 14, 2020
Translation of tweet by the Association of Flemish Cities and Municipalities: "1 in 3 municipalities has network problems. It's not hacking, but a technical defect with the provider. The provider is doing everything possible to solve the problem as soon as possible."
Some municipal services are difficult to reach via phone or email, and others have no internet at all, or cannot get into their software programmes.
It is not yet clear when the problems will be solved.
Maïthé Chini
The Brussels Times
