February 7, 2026

The growing vulnerability of conventional communication networks during extreme emergencies – whether caused by natural disasters, cyberattacks, or prolonged power outages – creates serious risks for modern societies. When public mobile networks fail or emergency call centers overload, a reliable and autonomous alternative becomes essential. Swissphone, a leading innovator in public safety, has implemented a world‑first in the region of Bolzano, South Tyrol: the first fully autonomous, interference‑resistant emergency call solution that ensures resilient communication between citizens and emergency services, even during a complete outage of public communication networks.

Use case Bolzano, South Tyrol: New benchmark for emergency infrastructure

Challenging terrain and weather conditions in South Tyrol highlighted the need for a robust emergency infrastructure. The provincial civil protection agency required a system that would guarantee emergency call availability for the population – even when up to 13,000 households are cut off from all primary services. The Swissphone solution: The use of a wireless network based on the mioty® wireless protocol:

1. m.HELP – the public emergency button

Strategically placed at 333 fire stations across the region of Bolzano, this autonomous device serves as a physical emergency access point. Activating the button triggers an alarm transmitted via the mioty® protocol, supported by an intuitive, multilingual interface that ensures error-free operation.

2. Swissphone mioty® gateway m.BASE

The Swissphone developed mioty® gateway m.BASE receives and processes alarms using the Telegram Splitting Multiple Access (TSMA) method according to ETSI TS 103 357. This method reduces the impact of damaged or lost bursts due to collisions by fragmenting and redundantly transmitting the data packets over time and spectrum.

3. Seamless system integration

The mioty® system architecture was designed by Swissphone so that the emergency message is fed directly into the established POCSAG paging network of the national firefighters association without dependence on public IP-based networks. This enables immediate, reliable notification of local emergency responders, thereby ensuring the operational capability of the rescue chain.

Conclusion: Swissphone proves the validity of this approach under extreme conditions with its pragmatic implementation in South Tyrol, establishing a new benchmark for the robustness of critical IoT infrastructures in Europe.