BT has admitted weak prospects may very well be unable to name the emergency providers throughout a sustained energy minimize after outdated copper landlines are torn out.
Telephone corporations are changing Britain’s decades-old “public switched” phone community with telephones that make calls over broadband. All of Britain’s 29 million properties will probably be switched to the brand new “voice over web system” by 2025, regardless of considerations the brand new infrastructure will collapse in excessive climate circumstances.
However the telecoms large has now conceded there may be “extra work to be finished”, after energy cuts throughout latest storms triggered digital telephones to cease working, though conventional landlines continued working.
In an interview with this newspaper, BT’s Chris Howe, mentioned regardless of present fail-safes designed to maintain the brand new community moving into all weathers, “the latest storms have proven us that we have to each work with our companions within the vitality trade and likewise give you extra resilient options”.
It follows criticisms from Britain’s greatest charity for the aged Age UK, which mentioned prospects who trusted outdated landline connections have been “being deserted” and left unable to dial 999 in an emergency.
Some 1.5 million BT prospects have already had their outdated landlines changed with new digital methods.
Round 15pc of landlines are actually accessed over broadband, up from 8pc final 12 months, in accordance with regulator Ofcom.
The watchdog has advised telecoms corporations they need to guarantee prospects depending on landlines have a free various, akin to a cell phone for emergencies, or are given charging packs, which is able to preserve their web routers on-line throughout any energy outage.