Building resilience in an era of compounding threats

As Storm Eunice tore across the UK in February 2022, winds of more than 120mph brought down power lines, damaged substations and left more than a million homes without electricity. Mobile masts lost power, fixed-line infrastructure was severed, and in many areas the loss of communications compounded the challenge of restoring energy supplies. Just months later, record summer heat pushed parts of the energy system to its limits, while flooding from Storm Babet submerged infrastructure and disrupted access to critical sites.

These events were not isolated incidents. They were warnings.

Across the UK, extreme weather is becoming more frequent, more severe and more disruptive, placing unprecedented strain on energy networks and the communications systems they depend on. When power fails, connectivity is often one of the first casualties. When connectivity is lost, operators can lose visibility and control of the very assets they need to manage safely.

More recently, the sector has been reminded that disruption does not need to originate on British soil to have a direct impact on UK critical infrastructure. Incidents affecting gas distribution network operators highlighted the risks associated with overseas-issued SIM cards embedded within operational devices. In particular, the use of non-UK mobile profiles exposed parts of the network to service degradation and loss of control driven by factors entirely outside UK operational, regulatory or commercial influence.

When safety-critical connectivity relies on overseas mobile cores, international signalling routes or foreign governance regimes, operators inherit risks they did not design and cannot easily mitigate. In this context, resilience is no longer just about redundancy, it is about sovereignty, control and assurance across the entire supply chain.

At the same time, a less visible but equally serious threat is growing. Cyber attacks linked to hostile state actors have increasingly targeted energy networks across Europe, exploiting the digital control systems that underpin modern utilities. In recent years, cyber operations have been used not just to steal data, but to deliberately disrupt power and gas networks, removing situational awareness at critical moments and demonstrating how digital compromise can translate into physical impact.

For the UK energy sector, the lesson is clear. The risks facing critical national infrastructure are now compounding and converging. Atmospheric disruption, physical damage, supply-chain fragility and cyber intrusion can occur simultaneously, amplifying their impact and extending recovery times. In this environment, resilience is no longer defined solely by the strength of pipes, wires or plant; it is defined by the security, diversity, sovereignty and availability of the connectivity that binds the system together.

For operators like SGN, whose networks must remain safe, visible and controllable in all conditions, preparing for this reality is not optional. It is fundamental to public safety, regulatory confidence and the UK’s transition to a net-zero energy system.

SGN manages the gas distribution network serving around six million homes and businesses across Scotland and southern England. As a critical national infrastructure operator, its responsibilities are uncompromising: protect public safety, maintain regulatory compliance, and ensure the continuous, secure operation of a vast, geographically dispersed asset base.

Alongside these responsibilities, SGN is playing a central role in the UK’s transition to net zero. Working with government and industry partners, it is helping develop the world’s first zero-carbon gas grid — preparing for a future in which biomethane and hydrogen operate alongside natural gas in increasingly regionalised networks.

Delivering this safely depends on the continuous flow of trusted data between thousands of field assets and SGN’s central control systems. Connectivity failures are not simply inconvenient; they pose direct risks to safety, compliance and customer confidence. That reality has shaped SGN’s approach to communications for more than a decade.

SGN first began working with Arqiva in 2011, seeking a connectivity partner capable of operating under the most demanding conditions. From the outset, the focus was on resilience, independence and security, not lowest-cost connectivity.

The initial deployment was based on highly secure VSAT satellite links, selected for their ability to operate independently of terrestrial infrastructure and to continue functioning during severe weather or localised outages. As operational demands increased, this was expanded to include LTE mobile connectivity and BGAN satellite services, ensuring coverage across urban, rural and hard-to-reach locations.

As SGN’s digital transformation accelerated, so too did the pressures on its connectivity estate. Rising cyber and physical security threats, tighter regulatory oversight, increased digitalisation and the growing use of advanced analytics and AI all drove the need for a more integrated, future-proof approach, one capable of withstanding not just individual failures, but systemic disruption.

In 2024, SGN selected Arqiva to deploy its fully Managed Connectivity service across 383 sites in England and Scotland. The objective was not simply to upgrade individual links, but to create a unified, resilient and secure network capable of supporting SGN’s long-term operational and regulatory needs.

The solution brings together multiple communications technologies into a single, closed, end-to-end customer network. Critical operational data is securely transmitted between field devices and SGN’s SCADA systems, ensuring that visibility and control are maintained even during periods of disruption.

Rather than relying on a single communications path, each site is designed with diverse primary and secondary connectivity. Cellular and satellite technologies are combined so that if one link is degraded or unavailable, traffic is automatically rerouted with minimal impact on operations.

Crucially, the solution is built around UK operational sovereignty. All cellular connectivity uses UK-issued, UK-only roaming SIMs, ensuring that operational traffic remains within domestic networks and UK regulatory frameworks. This removes reliance on overseas mobile cores, international roaming agreements or foreign commercial decisions that could otherwise affect the availability or integrity of safety-critical services.

In parallel, Arqiva works across multiple UK mobile network operators, avoiding dependence on any single provider. This multi-MNO approach delivers true carrier diversity, increasing resilience to localised outages, congestion or systemic telecoms failures. Combined with satellite independence, it ensures SGN maintains control even when terrestrial networks are compromised.

Arqiva works closely with SGN to design the right connectivity for each individual site. Geography, coverage limitations, security requirements and data volumes are all assessed in detail. The result is a carefully balanced blend of VSAT, BGAN and LTE, capable of delivering constant, cost-effective connectivity even in black-spot areas and remote environments.

Through Arqiva’s 24/7 managed service, the network is continuously monitored, faults are detected early and issues are resolved rapidly, helping prevent incidents before they escalate.

As Mike Smith, Executive Director of Smart Utilities Networks at Arqiva, explains:

Security is fundamental to the service. All data is protected in line with SGN’s CAF and NIS security frameworks, with particular care taken at the point where connectivity integrates with SGN’s SCADA systems, where integrity and availability are essential for safe network control.

As a fellow provider of critical national infrastructure, Arqiva brings deep experience in mitigating atmospheric events, physical threats and cyber-attacks, and in understanding how these risks can cascade across interdependent systems.

To support long-term delivery and value, a formal governance model was introduced, with clearly defined responsibilities, outputs and accountability. Quarterly performance reviews and innovation sessions ensure the service continues to evolve in line with SGN’s changing operational and regulatory requirements.

SGN’s decision to entrust Arqiva with the operation of its connectivity estate reflects a deep level of confidence. Connectivity is a safety-critical dependency, and outsourcing its design, management and operation required absolute trust in Arqiva’s expertise, security posture and long-term commitment.

That trust has been built over more than a decade of collaboration and is underpinned by Arqiva’s deep sector specialism in operational telecoms for critical national infrastructure. From broadcast and utilities to emergency services, Arqiva operates networks where resilience, availability and recovery under pressure are non-negotiable.

With over 100 years of experience in building and operating national and global communications infrastructure, Arqiva brings institutional resilience that few providers can match. This long-term perspective, combined with financial strength and a commitment to UK critical infrastructure, allowed SGN to focus on its core mission while knowing its operational communications were in expert hands.

The relationship is further underpinned by continuity and deep operational knowledge. Tom Milligan, SGN’s Service Excellence Manager, has worked with Arqiva for more than 30 years and has owned the SGN relationship from the outset, bringing an intimate understanding of the organisation’s needs to the deployment.

As Andrew Quail, SGN’s Chief Transformation and Information Officer, says:

For SGN, the drivers behind the programme are clear: resilience, security and future-proofing. As an operator responsible for the distribution of highly combustible gas, constant asset visibility and control are non-negotiable. At the same time, regulatory demands, environmental pressures and rapid digitisation are increasing the volume, speed and criticality of data moving across the network.

Arqiva’s Managed Connectivity service now provides the foundation SGN needs to support leakage detection, real-time monitoring, digital twins and the growing complexity of a net-zero energy system. These capabilities are underpinned by contractual 99.9% network availability guarantees, with performance continuously monitored against agreed service levels.

Importantly, the architecture reduces systemic risk by avoiding hidden dependencies on overseas infrastructure, single vendors or single network operators. In an era where geopolitical, commercial and environmental risks increasingly intersect, this independence is becoming as critical as physical asset resilience.

Looking ahead, Arqiva and SGN are already exploring how emerging technologies could unlock new capabilities. Low Earth Orbit satellite services, in particular, have the potential to enable higher-bandwidth field applications, from AI-driven leakage detection and enhanced security monitoring to augmented reality support for engineers and improved emergency communications.

As Anthony Jewitt, Business Development Manager at Arqiva, explains:

With a resilient, secure and sovereign connectivity platform in place, SGN is better prepared for whatever lies ahead, whether extreme weather, cyber threats or the accelerating demands of decarbonisation.

Backed by Arqiva’s technical expertise, financial strength and long-term commitment to UK critical national infrastructure, the partnership is positioned to support SGN through RIIO-3 and beyond, ensuring that when the next storm hits, physically or digitally, the network remains visible, controllable and secure.