Early warnings in the heatwave mine: Telecom at risk

Extreme heat waves are threatening telecom infrastructure globally, necessitating innovative solutions for enhanced climate resilience

- DR ANSHUL YADAV & PAYAL BHATNAGAR

The world is facing worsening heat waves, droughts, and wildfires. These climate events significantly impact productivity and increase damage to infrastructure, especially in the telecommunications sector. This sector, with more than USD 1.45 trillion spent on it worldwide by service providers, is particularly at risk.

In 2015, Perth, Western Australia, experienced the effects of extreme heat on its telecom infrastructure. A population of 1.96 million was affected when the cable providing Internet to Perth melted, and a data centre ceased functioning due to temperatures soaring to 44°C. The partial failure of air-conditioning systems forced a DSL Internet service provider to shut down its servers, disrupting email and corporate websites.

Similarly, in 2019, during 'The Lucifer Heatwave,' extreme heat impacted data centres across Europe. In France, record temperatures of 45.9°C strained cooling systems in data centres. As air conditioning struggled to maintain optimal temperatures, servers overheated, risking hardware malfunctions. Consequently, several cloud services and websites suffered outages, impacting businesses and users throughout the region. In 2022, Google and Oracle's London-based data centres were forced offline when temperatures exceeded 40°C.

CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS