Temperatures scorching, drought exceptional and influx of people mean that the island has been approaching its limits since mid-July. Are Corsica’s infrastructures still adapted to this model of population concentration? Is it sustainable in the long term? The question is valid.
With all the alerts and all the restrictions that have followed one another this summer, we will have, at the start of the school year, the impression of having returned to a famous sketch by Pido (that of the indescribable Dédé and Chriber) by saying to ourselves, it’s past “fair-fair”.
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First challenge, to move.
To say that the island roads are not sized to accommodate so many people at the same time is an understatement. From Cap Corse to Bonifacio, traffic jams have become a kind of summer way of life. It is not for lack of improving these roads. But two factors are cumulative: a delay difficult to catch up on the one hand, no alternative to the individual car on the other hand, whether one is in town, in a village on the coast or in the interior.
Wait… I’ll call you back
One of the other summer difficulties is the telephone.
Interrupted conversations, unreachable correspondents, the fault of saturated networks, particularly in very touristic areas. “It is certain that the networks have been saturated for a few days in certain areas. This concerns more the calls themselves than 4G which works rather better since the installation of 5G antennas”, we recognize at Orange. “However, there is a way to remedy this and you should not hesitate to dial 3900”assures the operator.
Technical explanation at Corsica GSM. “Since July 15, there has been regular saturation of the relay antennas. This is not considered a breakdown or a degradation, so it must be reported”, explains Sébastien Masclef, head of technical service. “In Corsica, the Orange antennas also welcome Free. As for SFR and Bouygues, they have pooled their antennas”, he continues, specifying that Corsica GSM customers can “switch” momentarily from one operator to another in the event of a problem.
Electricity, water, sobriety required
The other island peculiarity – even more marked at this time of year – is only observed in certain areas but can be puzzling. In some places on the island, your correspondent is not only unreachable but the pre-recorded message is that of an Italian operator. “This is due to the fact that the Italian relay antennas are much more powerful than those of French operators”, we confirm at Orange.
A different regulatory story, apparently. There remains System D solution: find a wifi hotspot, connect to it and make calls that way.
The exceptional drought that has plagued all of Europe this year has given rise to sobriety injunctions.
But the particularly high temperatures over a rather long period, combined with an exponential increase in the population, brought another consequence: the EDF alert, asking everyone to be sober in terms of electricity consumption. In a press release issued a few days ago, EDF asked users to postpone certain consumption (use of washing machines, dishwashers and charging electric cars) by avoiding peaks from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. EDF also recommended common sense measures (air conditioning at 25°C and closing the doors and windows of air-conditioned places).
The company also recalled that its 700 agents were mobilized to respond to all emergencies. “We had anticipated this situation which is almost identical to that of last year. The power demand on the networks was quite strong due to the heat wave but for the moment, we have not had any major problems”said Mario Capai, EDF’s communications manager.
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An additional constraint for the operator, the electricity supplied does not come, in summer, from the dams. “Here again, we had anticipated. At the beginning of the summer, all the dams were full, but at this time of the year, they are used very little, to reserve the water resource for irrigation and the supply drinking water”, says Mario Capai.