Switching off copper phone lines in the UK could leave residents of remote areas without communication in emergencies

MPs' warning to the minister

Plans to switch off the UK's traditional landline phone network could leave people in remote areas unable to call for help in an emergency — MPs have warned Security Minister Dan Jarvis. Landline operators intend to complete the switch from copper cables to an internet-based network by the end of January next year; the government and operators say digital landlines will provide a more reliable connection. This is reported by BBC News.

What is the problem

Unlike digital services, the traditional analogue phone network does not depend on the electricity supply and keeps working during a power cut. MPs representing remote areas fear that after the copper lines are retired their communities will become more vulnerable during storms and other emergencies. Labour MP Torcuil Crichton, representing the Na h-Eileanan an Iar constituency (the Outer Hebrides), noted that when the power goes out people are left with neither a phone nor the internet, and there is often no mobile signal either. Operators provide vulnerable customers with backup batteries that keep a landline phone working for about an hour or more, but Crichton called this 'simply not enough', adding that mobile operators 'simply do not have the capacity to maintain signal during storms'. Similar concerns were raised by MPs from the West Country and the Lake District: Marcus Campbell-Savours described a scenario in which an elderly person in an isolated Lake District valley loses power to their router during a night storm, the backup battery runs flat, and the mobile mast stops working — leaving the person with no way to call for help. Conservative Julian Lewis also pointed to the lack of a backup system in the event of a cyber-attack or another emergency, recalling that the copper network 'could give us a useful level of resilience in an emergency'.

The government's response

Jarvis, who leads the government's Be Ready campaign, which advises citizens to stock up on supplies in case of emergencies, said he would 'look carefully at' Lewis's remark. He also assured the West Country MPs that their concerns would be considered at the government's resilience summit, due to be held in Cornwall next month, and promised to raise the issue of telecoms companies with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. In his words, phone networks are 'a vital part of the country's critical national infrastructure'. The government explains the need for the switch by saying the analogue network is becoming increasingly unreliable; the digital signal will also be carried over copper wires where fibre has not yet been laid. The Be Ready campaign advises those who have not yet switched to the digital network to contact their provider; vulnerable customers, such as users of telehealth alarms, must be given a backup battery unit free of charge by their provider.

Image source, Getty Images