Daily CSR

Nokia Advances Resilient Connectivity for Extreme Weather

Debashish Mukherjee — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 12:06:00 +0200

As climate change continues to influence weather patterns, communities are facing extreme events such as hurricanes, droughts, floods, and severe storms with increasing frequency and intensity. When disasters occur, disruptions to electricity, communications, transportation, healthcare, and emergency services can magnify the damage and make recovery more difficult. Ensuring that these critical systems remain operational during emergencies is therefore becoming an increasingly important priority.

Climate projections indicate that many extreme weather events are likely to become more intense in the coming decades. This makes advance planning essential for governments, emergency organizations, infrastructure operators, and other decision-makers seeking to reduce the impact of weather-related disruptions on services that communities depend on.

As a provider of connectivity infrastructure, Nokia operates across many of these essential sectors, including energy, transportation, healthcare, telecommunications, and emergency response. Reliable communications provide the foundation that enables these different systems to exchange information and coordinate their activities when a crisis occurs.

Connectivity as the foundation of resilient communities

A resilient community depends on several interconnected elements working effectively together:

Weather intelligence to identify developing threats and provide timely warnings.
Critical infrastructure, including telecommunications and utilities, to keep essential services operating.
Coordinated emergency response involving public safety organizations, healthcare institutions, and local authorities.
Community recovery networks, supported by governments, NGOs, schools, shelters, and other organizations.

These components are closely linked, meaning that the failure of one can trigger problems elsewhere. For instance, an extended electricity outage can interrupt wastewater treatment and drainage systems, potentially increasing flood-related risks. Similarly, a communications failure can prevent residents from receiving warnings and make it harder for first responders to coordinate their activities.

Past disasters in the United States illustrate the consequences of such interconnected failures. Hurricane Sandy in 2012 resulted in widespread power outages across 18 states and disrupted wastewater infrastructure, contributing to additional flooding and public-health concerns. During Hurricane Helene in 2024, responders in Tennessee used an alternative statewide radio system to coordinate a helicopter rescue after conventional radio communications became unavailable.

The growing dependence on communications infrastructure is placing greater expectations on telecommunications companies to maintain connectivity during emergencies. Five major factors are contributing to this shift:

Financial exposure and risk
Increasing regulatory and government expectations
Community responsibility and social-impact commitments
Opportunities to strengthen the wider infrastructure ecosystem
Brand reputation and competitive considerations

Recent incidents have demonstrated the consequences of inadequate network resilience. The 2025 electricity blackout across the Iberian Peninsula, for example, affected more than 50 million people in Spain and Portugal, with some areas experiencing outages lasting as long as 16 hours. The failure disrupted numerous critical services at a time when communications were particularly important. Telecommunications networks were also heavily affected, with internet traffic reportedly falling by approximately 90% in Portugal and 80% in Spain. In some areas, mobile connectivity was lost after backup power systems were exhausted.

The blackout also generated criticism of telecommunications operators over preparedness and dependence on conventional electricity supplies. Subsequent severe weather events further highlighted the vulnerability of infrastructure across the region.

Storm Claudia caused flooding and electricity disruptions in parts of Portugal and Spain, while Storm Kristin subsequently caused widespread damage in Portugal, leaving more than one million people without electricity and bringing down thousands of telecommunications and electricity poles. In response to these vulnerabilities, Spain announced plans requiring telecommunications providers to maintain a minimum of four hours of mobile service during power outages. Portugal's telecommunications regulator has also recommended additional requirements aimed at increasing network autonomy.

The challenge extends well beyond Europe. Telecommunications infrastructure in remote parts of North America has also been exposed to extreme weather risks. Canada's 2024 wildfires, for example, highlighted connectivity limitations affecting rural and remote communities.

Research conducted by Nokia in collaboration with CGI, examining disasters recorded between 2015 and 2025, found that among U.S. states with a Nokia presence, Texas recorded 87 disasters during that period, followed by Missouri with 61 and Oklahoma with 58. The frequency and combination of these events reinforce the need for telecommunications providers to prepare for disruption before disasters occur rather than relying solely on recovery measures afterward.

Building resilience into connectivity systems

Future connectivity infrastructure will need resilience to be considered from the earliest stages of planning. This means incorporating resilience into network design, deployment, day-to-day operations, maintenance, and restoration strategies.

For telecommunications companies, stronger network resilience can reduce exposure to future disruptions while helping ensure that electricity, healthcare, emergency response, transportation, and other essential services remain connected. Ultimately, strengthening communications infrastructure also contributes to the resilience of the communities that rely on it.

Nokia's approach to AI-enabled resilient connectivity

Nokia is working with telecommunications companies and other organizations responsible for mission-critical services to strengthen resilience across entire infrastructure ecosystems. Its approach extends beyond basic connectivity, incorporating network infrastructure, sensing and detection technologies, power continuity, edge computing, and other capabilities that can help essential organizations remain operational during emergencies.

Foundational connectivity: High-capacity fiber networks can provide dependable communications for critical services, while satellite-enabled Non-Terrestrial Network architectures can offer alternative connectivity when terrestrial infrastructure is damaged or unavailable.
Sensing and detection: Existing fiber-optic and 5G infrastructure can potentially be used as large-scale sensing platforms, providing real-time information that supports disaster monitoring and weather forecasting. Nokia's work with organizations including Skyfora, A1, and Telia Finland combines telecommunications infrastructure and GNSS capabilities to develop higher-resolution weather-sensing networks.
Power continuity: Telecommunications technology also plays an important role in the modernization of electricity networks. Nokia supports utilities and power-generation organizations in improving their communications infrastructure and operational capabilities. In New Zealand, for example, Nokia is supporting Transpower's upgrade of its central control network, with the objective of strengthening the resilience of the country's electricity infrastructure.
Edge resilience: Edge technologies can help maintain mission-critical communications during outages and cyber incidents. Nokia's Cognitive Operations platform and Cognitive Edge Node can enable emergency vehicles to operate as mobile communications hubs, supporting 5G, Wi-Fi, and satellite connectivity while allowing personnel to exchange real-time information from the field.

The role of artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence is becoming an important component of resilient infrastructure strategies. Within telecommunications networks and across interconnected infrastructure ecosystems, AI can support applications ranging from climate-risk analysis to automated network recovery and the prioritization of resources during emergencies.

Technologies such as Nokia's AI-RAN platform and MantaRay SON can help identify potential network problems and enable corrective action before service is significantly affected. AI-powered digital twins can also help communities and infrastructure operators model potential scenarios, locate vulnerabilities, evaluate risks, and implement improvements before an actual disaster occurs.

Collaboration across infrastructure ecosystems

Resilience cannot be achieved by telecommunications companies alone. Governments, utilities, emergency services, healthcare providers, technology companies, community organizations, and other infrastructure stakeholders all have roles to play in preparing for increasingly complex climate-related disruptions.

Nokia's participation in New York City Climate Week from September 20–24 is focused on discussions around resilience and collaboration across these interconnected ecosystems. The company is also participating in a CGI Climate Working Session on Digital Resilience, with further initiatives and actions expected to emerge from these discussions.

Nokia and Transpower Strengthen New Zealand’s Power Grid

Debashish Mukherjee — Sun, 27 Sep 2026 09:24:00 +0200

Terms such as “five-nines availability” and “low latency” are common when discussing networks that support critical infrastructure. Seeing the operations at the Haywards electrical substation, located at the northern end of New Zealand’s 350 kV High-Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) links, provided a much more concrete understanding of what those requirements mean in practice.

As an IP engineer based in Europe, I have spent my career working to improve the reliability of networks that cannot afford significant downtime. However, remotely supporting the local team at Transpower New Zealand offered a different perspective on the responsibility involved in protecting essential infrastructure.

A disruption to a retail broadband connection might be an inconvenience. A large-scale failure of a national electricity grid can have consequences across entire communities and the economy. As John Crisp, Communications Network Head at Transpower, describes it, when the grid goes down, “it’s all over, Red Rover.”

Why communications infrastructure is essential to the power grid

Transpower operates the transmission network that moves electricity across New Zealand, including hydroelectric power generated in the South Island and delivered to major population centers in the North Island. The effectiveness of that electricity network depends heavily on the communications infrastructure supporting its operation.

That communications system, known as TransGO, provides the connectivity and information flow required to operate the national grid. It effectively functions as the grid's communications nervous system.

Without TransGO, grid operators would have far less visibility into the condition of equipment, electricity generation and demand. This real-time awareness is becoming increasingly important as renewable generation, including wind and solar power, expands.

Unlike conventional generation, renewable sources can fluctuate depending on weather and other conditions. Operators therefore require timely and accurate information to maintain the balance between electricity supply and demand. The possibility of earthquakes, storms and other natural hazards further reinforces the need for resilient communications infrastructure.

Technologies such as IP/MPLS can help provide the network resilience, service separation and cybersecurity capabilities required to support these mission-critical operations.

Transpower as guardian of the national grid

During my work with Transpower, the team introduced me to the Māori concept of Kaitiaki, a term associated with guardianship and protection.

Transpower describes itself as the “Kaitiaki of the national grid,” reflecting the responsibility it carries for maintaining the country's electricity transmission infrastructure.

That responsibility extends well beyond physical assets such as transmission lines, substations and towers. It involves helping provide a dependable, affordable and sustainable electricity system for New Zealand's population of more than five million people.

This concept of guardianship also closely aligns with the approach taken by Nokia's mission-critical networking teams. For organizations such as Transpower, network performance is not simply a technical objective. Reliability is fundamental because disruptions to communications can affect the operation of critical infrastructure.

Working together to strengthen the grid

Nokia has been a long-standing technology partner of Transpower. Working alongside Spark New Zealand, Nokia is supporting the modernization of TransGO, helping prepare the communications network for the evolving requirements of New Zealand's electricity grid.

The partnership extends beyond supplying IP networking equipment. It involves understanding the operational requirements and complexities of Transpower's environment and developing solutions that support reliable grid management.

The objective is straightforward but critical: help keep electricity flowing while supporting the wider economy and New Zealand's increasingly digital infrastructure.

Watch the video.

Learn more about Transpower’s work

For a closer look at Transpower's operations and the role of its communications infrastructure, viewers can explore the customer success story and watch the video.

Together, these resources highlight the technology, expertise and people working behind the scenes to maintain a resilient and secure electricity transmission network. The story also illustrates how mission-critical communications can support the reliability of essential infrastructure and help keep New Zealand's grid operating.