Landline switchover could cut people off in emergency, minister warned
Plans to switch to digital landlines by January could leave remote areas of the UK vulnerable, MPs say.
Landline switchover could cut people off in emergency, minister warned
Plans to shut down the UK’s traditional landline phone network could leave people in remote areas unable to reach help in an emergency, MPs have warned.
Landline operators want to finish moving to an internet-based system rather than copper-wire cables by the end of January next year.
The government and operators say the shift to digital landlines will provide a more dependable service.
But MPs representing remote parts of the UK urged security minister Dan Jarvis to make sure that removing the copper-wire network did not leave their communities more exposed during storms or other emergencies.
Unlike digital services, the old landline network does not depend on mains electricity and still works during a power cut.
Labour MP Torcuil Crichton, who represents the Western Isles constituency of Na h-Eileanan an Iar, said: "Resilience is inbuilt in the islands but we have major problems with connectivity because of this move from analogue to digital phone lines."
He said that "when the power goes out people don't have the phone, they don't have the internet and often they don't have a mobile signal either".
Retail service providers have been handing out back-up battery packs to vulnerable customers, which can keep landline phones working for an hour or more.
But Crichton said this was "simply not adequate" and that mobile phone providers "simply don't have the means to maintain or keep their signal going during storms".
He urged the minister to get telecoms firms to "up their digital game" to protect places "on the edge where people are vulnerable, isolated from their neighbours, where the ambulance is an hour away and the storm is 70 miles an hour".
Similar worries were raised by MPs from the West Country and the Lake District.
Markus Campbell-Savours, Labour MP for Penrith and Solway, said: "I ask the minister to imagine an elderly constituent living alone in an isolated Lake District valley where copper phone lines have been replaced by fibre.
"A storm takes out the power to their router in the night and by the time they wake, the modest battery back up has failed, as has the mobile mast, does the minister share my concerns that they would have no way to raise an alarm in an emergency and agree that we need a new technological solution to protect the elderly?"
Conservative MP Julian Lewis also raised concerns about the absence of a "back-up system" if digital phone services fail in the event of a cyber attack or other emergency.
He told Jarvis the copper-wire network "could have given us useful levels of resilience in an emergency".
Jarvis, who is leading the government’s Be Ready campaign, which advises people to stock up on supplies so they are prepared for emergencies, said he would "look very closely" at the Tory MP’s point.
He also assured West Country MPs that their concerns would be dealt with at a government resilience summit, due to be held in Cornwall next month, and promised to raise concerns about telecoms firms with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
"Our telephone networks are a vital part of our critical national infrastructure and our emergency response in weather-related crisis supports the functioning of essential services and keeping people connected when they need it most," he told MPs.
The government says the move to digital phone services is necessary because the traditional analogue network is becoming increasingly unreliable.
"If you are a vulnerable customer, for example if you are a telecare user, your communication provider must provide a free back‑up battery unit," it adds.