"Considering the committed way we supply our services, it is our firm conviction that, as has always been the case, PT has met and unequivocally exceeded all levels of service contracted by SIRESP, S.A." - the operator of the National Emergency and Security Network - said Alexandre Fonseca, the head of the company's technological office.

He stressed that PT is a member of two working groups that focus on increasing resilience and redundancy of the SIRESP network.

“We do it because we believe in the efficiency of this network, if used correctly, but also because we believe that we are part of the solution so far as the improvement and effectiveness of this network," he said.

Fonseca also confirmed that PT is working with the government to bury cables rather than have the overhead, but stressed that “the first obstacle is the lack of physical infrastructure in the overwhelming majority of rural space in our country" - that is, a lack of tunnels already dug.

On 12 August the prime minister, António Costa, said in a newspaper interview that the failures of SIRESP - including a breakdown in emergency communications in June that contributed to the deaths of many of the victims in a fire in Pedrógão Grande, in central Portugal - resulted “from the collapse” of the PT network in the area. He said that the government wanted to force the company to improve its network in areas at risk of fire, making use of tunnels along major roads that he said were already there "but empty".

The newspaper reported that the minister for infrastructure, Pedro Marques, is in talks with PT that could lead to the government providing funding to bury cables.

In a report released on 9 August, the Institute of Telecommunications said that there were “serious failings” in the SIRESP network, with periods of between 39 hours and 70 hours during the June fire in Pedrógão Grande during which communications went down at different base stations.