We were surprised and disappointed to see that the resilience of electrical and telecommunications infrastructure is still too often overlooked in climate action priorities.
Yet, a city without electricity and communications is just as vulnerable as a city without drinking water.
Without electricity? Critical infrastructures become inoperative:
Water pumping and distribution: Without electricity, it’s impossible to supply drinking water, increasing the risk of shortages and contamination.
Heating and cooling of shelters: Emergency centers can’t protect vulnerable populations from extreme temperatures.
Power supply for hospitals and medical equipment: Generators are only a temporary solution, putting vital care at risk.
Operation of municipal and safety services: Traffic lights, cameras, and emergency centers are paralyzed, delaying interventions.
Without telecommunications? Coordination and information are crippled:
Rescue coordination: Firefighters, paramedics, and police can’t communicate effectively, slowing down rescue operations.
Public alerts and information: Emergency alerts and safety instructions can’t be disseminated in real time.
Municipal operations and crisis management: Essential services become inoperative, worsening the situation.
Maintaining social and economic connections: Communication breakdowns isolate citizens and paralyze banking transactions and remote work.
Municipalities should demand that these issues be included in climate resilience priorities. They are on the front lines during crises and cannot wait for governments to act afterward.
Resilient infrastructures are no longer optional—they are essential.
When designing infrastructure, whether for transportation or electricity networks, it is crucial to integrate preventive maintenance and upgrade strategies from the start. These measures ensure long-term durability and efficiency while generating cost savings.
Preventive Maintenance: Anticipating to Avoid Costs
Preventive maintenance helps prevent major failures before they occur. For example, in electrical networks, regular inspections can prevent costly breakdowns and avoid emergency repairs. This approach reduces service disruption risks while keeping repair costs under control.
Why Poor Design Choices Can Be Costly
Failing to anticipate future challenges can lead to significant expenses. For instance, networks built on wooden poles have become highly vulnerable to climate change. Had different criteria been applied from the start, repair costs after storms could have been significantly reduced.
Continuous Upgrades: Ensuring Easy Evolution
A well-designed infrastructure must be scalable and capable of integrating updates without invasive work. For example, smart control systems in electrical networks allow for the adoption of new technologies without requiring a complete infrastructure overhaul, reducing long-term costs.
Real-World Example: Subway Modernization
Cities like New York and London have integrated real-time monitoring systems into the design of their new subway lines. These systems enable predictive maintenance, helping to reduce long-term maintenance costs.
Investing in preventive maintenance and continuous upgrades from the initial infrastructure design phase helps lower costs, enhance safety, and ensure long-term efficiency.
It is well known that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. In electrical and telecom networks, every component—from cables to power systems—must be designed to withstand failures and extreme events. A single weakness can lead to costly outages and compromise vital services. In the face of extreme weather conditions, resilience isn’t just about cables; it’s about the entire infrastructure. Protecting each link is essential to ensuring network continuity and reliability.
Cables and Connections: Electrical cables and fiber optic lines, the backbone of the network, must be built to withstand major events such as floods or storms. They should preferably be buried and undergo preventive maintenance to minimize the risk of failures.
Distribution Cabinets and Enclosures: These connection points for power and telecom distribution must be reinforced against physical impacts (such as vehicles or flying debris), using metal or composite structures capable of withstanding extreme forces.
Servers and Data Centers: These critical components for data processing and management must be safeguarded against power outages, fires, and floods. Backup generators, reinforced cooling systems, and waterproof infrastructures are necessary to ensure continuous operation.
Power Supply Systems: Energy supply must remain secure even during outages, especially for telecom networks. UPS systems, backup batteries, and generators must be powerful enough and regularly tested to operate under extreme conditions and guarantee network stability.
Transport and Logistics: The resilience of material transport and spare parts supply chains must be ensured. Roads and railway networks must be designed to withstand severe weather to enable fast and uninterrupted deliveries.
Personnel and Communication: Finally, resilience isn’t just about physical equipment—it’s also about human management. Staff training, emergency plans, and backup communication solutions are crucial to ensuring quick and efficient crisis management.
Adopting a comprehensive approach to resilience means investing in long-term reliability and security. By strengthening every link in the infrastructure, electricity and telecom providers can reduce outage costs, minimize service disruptions, and protect communities.
A resilient chain means a stable network, enhanced security, and a more reliable future for everyone.
The January 2025 wildfires plunged several regions, particularly California, into a major crisis, highlighting the vulnerability of telecommunications networks to natural disasters. Thousands of residents and businesses were cut off from communication, further complicating situations for both authorities and citizens.
In California, the fires destroyed more than 300 cell towers, especially in the Sonoma region. For several days, thousands of people were left without access to mobile and Internet services, disrupting not only businesses but also emergency response efforts. In some rural areas, 50% of relay stations remained inaccessible for over a week.
The economic impact was significant. An online business estimated a $2 million revenue loss due to the Internet service disruption, emphasizing the importance of ensuring infrastructure resilience to minimize economic disruptions.
Had more resilient infrastructures been in place, repair costs could have been significantly lower. In 2020, similar wildfires had already cost California around $1.5 billion in telecommunications infrastructure repairs. According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), investments in stronger networks could have reduced these costs by 30% to 40%, representing savings of $450 million to $600 million.
Integrating real-time monitoring technologies and mobile relay stations could speed up service restoration, as seen in some regions after past wildfires. The cost of a mobile relay station is approximately $250,000, but it allows for a rapid return of coverage, which is crucial in times of crisis.
Ultimately, while investing in infrastructure resilience may seem costly in the short term, it provides considerable long-term benefits, both economically and in terms of public safety.
The events of January 2024 highlight the urgent need to incorporate resilience into the very design of telecommunications networks.
We are very proud of our ECORESPONSIBLE™ Certification, level 1. Commitment.
It demonstrates our values and our desire to improve from a sustainable development perspective. ECORESPONSIBLE™ Certification has allowed us to understand all aspects of sustainable development, social, economic and environmental. Our perception is no longer limited to the environmental impact alone. We now interpret sustainable development in its entirety.
The benefits of certification
An asset on the market
Thanks to our ECORESPONSIBLE™ Certification, we have an additional advantage when entering the international market. Our Certification positions us as a cutting-edge organization and allows us to add value to our service offering. Eco-responsible practices are a factor increasingly considered by clients.
Concrete results
We identified areas for improvement that turned into concrete results, including:
Integration of a horizontal management model
Transparent remuneration
No longer using single-use plastic packaging
100% offset of carbon emissions linked to the transport of materials
Encourage our employees to use public transportation
A united, mobilized team
Our entire team mobilized with conviction in this stage of preparation for change. Our ECORESPONSIBLE™ Certification proved to be a success because all members of our team, including members of senior management, adhered to it and contributed to it. The exercise had an undeniable mobilizing effect.
Since high-speed telecommunications connections have become essential today, ensuring better protection of these network infrastructures was necessary, which is now possible with the Maestro enclosure.
Standard boxes with bollards
Fibre optic network infrastructures include local distribution points called “optical nodes” in all the connected areas. The optical node, the entry point to each area, consists of an above-ground enclosure connected by an underground optical cable containing fibers for hundreds or thousands of customers. Bollards generally protect these above-ground enclosures.
Despite the protective bollards, above-ground enclosures remain vulnerable to impacts, particularly during an incident with a heavy vehicle (truck or snow loader) where contact with the cabinet is probable. The foreseeable consequence of such an impact is the movement of the cabinet on its base, which may result in the cutting of the leading optical cable, causing the interruption of service for customers connected to this optical node. Getting this strategic point back into operation can take considerable time and effort, especially during the cold season when incidents are more likely.
Furthermore, very violent winds can tear away objects and throw them all around during a hurricane, including onto above-ground cabinets containing critical equipment. We then find a situation comparable to an incident involving a heavy vehicle, with consequences like those described above. In all these circumstances, the quality of the anchoring of the above-ground enclosure becomes an important element.
A standard cabinet typically has four (4) anchors in the folded sheet metal forming the sides of the enclosure. Eight (8) large anchors are in the steel structure’s base in the Maestro cabinet, creating a solid and fixed cage in the lower part. This configuration prevents movement of the cabinet base as much as possible and, therefore, prevents accidental cutting of the leading optical cable.
The Maestro XT+ cabinet, a solution of choice
Maestro XT+
The Maestro XT+ cabinet, with its internal steel structure, is designed to protect critical components during major incidents, including climatic events. In the current context where high-speed telecommunications connections are essential, it becomes essential to strengthen the security of these network infrastructures.
Thus, although the Maestro cabinet can be used in several ways, for example, to make required energy/telecom connections for an event site, its exceptional solidity characteristics are particularly appreciated during incidents or extreme events, as seen more and more on the environmental level.
In the current context where high-speed telecommunications connections are essential, it becomes essential to strengthen the security of these network infrastructures. The Maestro XT+ cabinet, with its internal steel structure, is designed to protect critical components during major incidents, including climatic events.
Infrastructures for low-voltage energy distribution and wired telecommunications networks (optical fiber and cable television) exist in three ways:
With overhead cables (on poles);
With underground cables (with handholes and pedestals);
In a hybrid version combining aerial and other underground.
The 2nd option, the underground method, is generally considered the most reliable because it is less exposed to bad weather (wind, ice) and protected from conflicts with vegetation. However, we observe that, during major climatic events such as floods or hurricanes, all the above-ground connection equipment, including pedestals, remains vulnerable. Regular connection pedestals, made of thin sheet metal or plastic, are not designed to withstand even minor impacts, such as those observed during major climatic events.
Historically, repairing or rebuilding energy and telecom networks after a significant flood or hurricane can take several weeks or months. During this time, we must clean and repair or reconstruct civil infrastructures and buildings, which require energy and operational telecoms. In these circumstances, generators and cell phones are more of a makeshift option. Access to existing high-capacity energy and telecom networks in the affected area will significantly accelerate cleaning and reconstruction.
The MCM JDP, a solution of choice
JDP
The JDP from MCM Integration can support a lamp post up to 10 m (30 ft.) high. With its robust steel structure (25 mm), the JDP cabinet weighs more than 180 kg (400 lb) and is solidly anchored on a 160 kg (350 lb) steel base buried in concrete. These characteristics make the JDP highly resistant to impacts, keeping it functional despite significant impacts. During an intense hurricane, the strong winds will likely remove the lamp post from the roof of the JDP, but this does not affect the functionality of the JDP.
Finally, rapid access to high-capacity energy and wired telecom networks after an intense climatic event will help speed up the cleaning and reconstruction of the disaster area. This characteristic is a significant advantage of the JDP concept, which also better integrates energy and telecom network connections into the urban environment.
The MCM’s JDP is a unique above-ground network infrastructure capable of withstanding the worst weather conditions while remaining functional.
Individual homes previously benefited from large front lawns, allowing easy dissimulation of service pedestals in corners behind some bush. However, with the urban densification taking place, this situation has significantly changed.
Today:
The reduction of the size of lots, combined with an increased number of parking spots on every property, has transformed frontages by reducing the front lawns to such modest dimensions that it has become impossible to install and dissimulate pedestals easily. Furthermore, there is no more savings in building separate network infrastructures, given the actual costs for civil works, for concrete, and for the required legal servitudes.
The three main reasons:
Lost of value
In new residential developments, properties showing conventional pedestals on their small frontage are the last ones chosen by the buyers. Therefore, the presence of pedestals on your frontage will lower the value of your property. And since access to this equipment must be maintained, it is not recommended to try to hide them behind bushes.
Required legal servitudes
In most jurisdictions, a private lot requires a legal servitude to install a pedestal or a handhole, which implies costs and delays for the home builder or the land developer. One way to avoid these costs is to install these devices in the public easement along the street. However, installing pedestals in the public easement is generally avoided or forbidden.
Construction costs
Lately, costs of civil works have become prohibitive. It is therefore important to minimize the amount of required civil works when designing power and telecom infrastructures. Integrating the various networks within a single trench and make all the connections for a customer from a single point has become more economical.
Historically, in urban areas, pedestals take the shape of enclosures of various sizes installed along the streets, generally on front lawns.
Why do we need pedestals?
Pedestals and handholes usually serve to make customer connections on power and telecom networks. Therefore, they are normally dedicated to one service utility, either energy or telecom, each with its standards.
What types of networks use pedestals?
Wired networks need enclosures to make connections, which is not the case for wireless networks that use antennas instead to transmit signals. Meanwhile, to this day, power networks have only been made using wires, but power connections can be made underground, which is not usually the case for telecom connections.
The solution:
Integrate the pedestals into the lampposts
The lampposts are an excellent example of a required urban functional structure typically installed in the public easement. They are commonly needed every 100 feet, on one side or either side along the streets. For the pedestals and handholes to be integrated into the lamppost base, it must be possible to connect all the required services for 4 to 8 homes nearby, which is precisely what MCM Joint Distribution Pedestal (JDP) is proposing.
Since 2005, thousands of MCM JDPs have been installed in Eastern Canada. They have proven to be an effective solution to integrate the power and telecom connections in the base of lampposts. This concept has also proven to be economically viable by firstly reducing the required civil works significantly, one trench only being required to pass the power and telecom cables from one lamppost to another.
The following grid compares the conventional approach, using separate pedestals and handholes, with the integrated system, using the MCM JDP :
DESCRIPTION
CONVENTIONAL
INTEGRATED WITH JDP
Location
Front lawns
Public easement
Legal servitudes
Required
Not required (JDP has its subbase)
Civil works
One trench per service
All in a single trench (Normalization required)
Concrete base for : – Lamppost – Telecom 1 – Telecom 2
Required Recommended Recommended
Not required Not required Not required
Power connection
Handhole required
Included
Access in wintertime
Often difficult in snow
Always easy
Durability
Variable
Lifetime
Maintenance
Minimal
Minimal
No of customers
4 to 8 per location
4 to 8 per location
Aesthetics
Poor
Good
Valeur des maisons
Derated
Intact or improved
Construction costs
As a reference
15 % less
Engineering costs
As a reference
25 % more
To successfully integrate the connected devices, the engineering firm has to gather the needs from each utility involved to physically relocate the connection points at the lampposts locations while complying with the utility standards. Although this exercise might seem complicated at first, it rapidly becomes a standard design method in the following projects. In addition, MCM provides free technical support at all the project stages, from advice for the design to instructions for the contractor regarding the installation of the JDP.
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