Landline switchover could cut off remote areas in emergencies, MPs warn

MPs have raised alarms that the planned shutdown of the UK’s traditional copper-wire landline network could leave people in remote areas without a way to call for help during emergencies. The switch to internet-based phone services is due to be completed by the end of January next year. While the government and operators argue that digital landlines will be more dependable, lawmakers from isolated constituencies are not convinced.

Power cuts leave no way to call for help

Unlike the old analogue system, digital phone services depend on mains electricity and stop working in a power outage. 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 explained that when the power goes out, people lose their phone, internet, and often mobile signal too. Retail service providers are giving vulnerable customers back-up battery packs that keep landlines working for an hour or more. But Crichton said those batteries are “simply not adequate” and mobile providers “simply don’t have the means to maintain or keep their signal going during storms”.

Concerns from the Lake District and beyond

Similar worries were raised by MPs from the West Country and the Lake District. Markus Campbell-Savours, Labour MP for Penrith and Solway, described an elderly constituent living alone in an isolated valley where copper lines have been replaced by fibre. A storm knocks out power to the router at night, the battery back-up fails, the mobile mast fails, and there is no way to raise an alarm. He called for a new technological solution to protect the elderly. Conservative MP Julian Lewis questioned the lack of a back-up system if digital services go down in a cyber attack or other emergency. He told security minister Dan Jarvis that the copper-wire network “could have given us useful levels of resilience in an emergency”.

Government response and next steps

Jarvis, who is spearheading the government’s Be Ready campaign advising people to stock up on emergency supplies, said he would “look very closely” at Lewis’s point. He assured West Country MPs that their concerns would be addressed at a government resilience summit due to take place in Cornwall next month. Jarvis also promised to raise concerns about telecoms firms with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. He said: “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.” The government says the switch is needed because the analogue network is becoming increasingly unreliable. Digital signals will be sent over copper wires where fibre has not yet been installed. The Be Ready campaign advises people not yet migrated to contact their landline provider, and notes that vulnerable customers, such as telecare users, must receive a free back-up battery unit.