- Conference
- 2024 National Retired Members Conference
- Date
- 11 June 2024
- Decision
- Carried
This Conference notes
Over the next few years, landline telephone services in the UK will switch to a fully digital network. The existing network, called the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), will be withdrawn. The PSTN is an aging network that is becoming harder and more expensive to maintain. Calls will be carried over the broadband network instead. The majority of users of PSTN are older members of the community. There has been a lack of publicity and consequent public knowledge of this change.
The withdrawal of the PSTN is industry-led. It is not the direct result of government policy. Decisions on migrating customers are made by the companies that operate and provide services on the network. For example, BT’s new home phone service for digital calls is called Digital Voice.
Phone companies intend to withdraw the PSTN by the end of January 2027. This is the date when the PSTN itself will be switched off, but individual customers are already being ‘migrated’ off the PSTN. Ofcom, the UK telecoms regulator, estimated in its December 2023 Connected Nations report that less than half of landlines (41%, 9.7 million) are still on the PSTN. Ofcom expects that most customers will see minimal disruption from this process.
The industry had originally targeted a switch-off date of 31 December 2025. However, the migration of customers has been ‘paused’ twice in response to concerns raised about the impact on customers who rely on landlines or other devices that use the PSTN. For example, unlike traditional landlines, digital phone lines will not work in a power cut at the customer’s property without a backup power source. Ofcom requires providers to take measures to ensure uninterrupted access to emergency services for at least an hour, including during a power cut. This could include, for example, a battery supply or mobile phone. BT paused its rollout of Digital Voice for over a year from March 2022, in part because lengthy power cuts caused by storms in winter 2021/22 brought this issue “into sharper focus”.
Devices that rely on the PSTN include some telecare devices such as fall alarms. The government revealed in December 2023 that it had asked the industry to pause the rollout again following reports of “serious incidents” involving telecare devices. Phone providers subsequently signed up to a set of commitments to “protect vulnerable customers as phone lines are upgraded to a new digital network”. Under the PSTN Charter, providers agreed to, for example, not migrate users of telecare devices unless their device is compatible with digital landlines, and to provide battery back-up solutions that “go beyond” Ofcom’s minimum requirements.
Concerns about the impact of the switchover on vulnerable customers have not been addressed. City Region Mayors such as Andy Burnham and Steve Rotherham have called for a delay in the switchover because of the detrimental impact on telecare user. There are numerous examples where industry led change has failed to protect vulnerable users. Currently the industry is being allowed to dictate the terms of the switchover and the migration is not satisfactory. The voluntary charter offers insufficient protections for vulnerable users. Industry should be legally required to follow a process and procedure that protects the user. The replacement system must be able to support any devices or services needed by the user.
This Conference calls upon the National Retired Members Committee to start a campaign to
a)Raise awareness of the changes to the PSTN amongst Retired Members
b)Raise awareness of the changes to the PSTN amongst the wider movement
c)Lobby Parliament to
1)To create a legal definition of vulnerable customers that protects all current users of the system.
2)PSTN will not be switched off until all supporting systems such as Carelink, lifts can be supported by the new system.
3)The new system and hardware such as handsets are affordable and usable.
4)There is a nationwide system of support to help customers to transition to the new system.
5)The new system is affordable.
6)The campaign to involve customers and harnesses their purchasing power.
7.
The National Retired Members Committee to report back to the 2025 National Retired Members Conference on the progress it has achieved.
North West Regional Retired Members Committee