MPs warn digital landline switch could leave remote residents without emergency contact

MPs have warned that the UK’s planned switch from traditional landlines to digital phone services could leave people in remote areas unable to call for help during a power cut or other emergency.

Telecoms operators aim to complete the change from copper-wire lines to internet-based services by the end of January next year. The government and operators say digital landlines will provide a more reliable service, but MPs say they must not leave isolated communities without a way to contact emergency services.

Traditional landlines can continue to work during a power cut. Digital services rely on electricity, while mobile coverage can also fail during severe weather, MPs told security minister Dan Jarvis.

Torcuil Crichton, the Labour MP for the Western Isles, said that when the power went out, people could lose their phone and internet connection and might not have a mobile signal. Battery back-up units supplied to vulnerable customers could keep phones working for an hour or more, but he called that “simply not adequate”.

Markus Campbell-Savours, Labour MP for Penrith and Solway, asked Jarvis to consider the risk to an elderly person living alone in a remote valley if a storm cut power and a back-up battery and mobile mast both failed. Conservative MP Julian Lewis also raised the risk of digital services going down during a cyber attack or other emergency.

Jarvis said he would “look very closely” at Lewis’s concern. He said the issue would be addressed at a government resilience summit due to take place in Cornwall next month, and promised to raise MPs’ concerns about telecoms companies with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

The government says the analogue network is becoming increasingly unreliable. Its guidance says providers must give vulnerable customers, including people who use telecare, a free back-up battery unit. The BBC report says those units can keep phones operating for an hour or more; it does not set out how long support lasts in different circumstances.