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The UK government has today hailed the start of a new national campaign, funded by broadband giants BT and Virgin Media, which aims to help support and encourage vulnerable people in their efforts to switch from legacy phone lines to new digital (IP / VoIP based) networks before the deadline.
In case anybody has forgotten, the big analogue phone switch-off was recently delayed to 31st January 2027 in order to give broadband ISPs, phone, telecare providers, councils and consumers more time to adapt (details). The main focus of this was the 1.8 million UK people who use vital home telecare systems (e.g. elderly, disabled, and vulnerable users), which aren’t always compatible with digital phone services (i.e. telecare providers were slow to adapt). For everybody else, the switchover deadline is still technically Dec 2025.
The industry-led shift is being driven by the looming retirement of copper lines in favour of full fibre (FTTP), as well as future exchange closures and the declining reliability of the old phone network (Ofcom states that related fault rates substantially increased by 45% in 2024). Not to mention that it is not economically feasible to maintain both the old and new networks side-by-side long term.
The government has already responded to these concerns by encouraging the industry to adopt various changes and work more closely together (here and here). For example, operators must now ensure that no vulnerable customers are migrated by the major providers (e.g. BT, Virgin Media, Vodafone and Sky Broadband) until their telecare systems have been confirmed to work with the new digital phone service. The latter may involve engineer visits to homes, as well as the offer of a free battery back-up device (protection during power outages) and more.
However, the new national awareness campaign (National Telecare Campaign) recognises that some problems remain, such as with the fact that not all elderly and disabled people may be aware of this change or how to solve it. In addition, not all internet and phone providers will have accurate knowledge of exactly which customers could be defined as “vulnerable” in the first place.
The new campaign thus seeks to encourage vulnerable users to identify themselves and contact their provider, assuming they haven’t already done so. Many local authorities and private telecare operators have already signed data sharing agreements with phone providers to ensure that as many telecare users have been identified as possible, but even these are not perfect.
Telecoms Minister, Sir Chris Bryant, said:
“We cannot afford to leave anyone behind during the vital transition to digital landlines. I have personally set a strict checklist of safeguards for industry to comply with before they migrate any telecare user.
This industry-led campaign marks a further step towards keeping people safe as we boost the resilience of our networks for the digital age.
I urge anyone with a telecare alarm – or anyone close to a user of a telecare alarm – to pick up the phone and contact their provider to access the help that’s available.”
From today, adverts will appear across TV, newspapers, social media and select radio stations around the country running over the next few months to ensure widespread reach (digitalphoneswitchover.com). This is coupled with newly created posters which will be on display in GP surgeries, hospitals, pharmacies and post offices.
The advertising campaign is expected to be seen by 95% of all adults in the UK, including 98% of those over 65. BT and Virgin Media landline customers can also call on 150 from their home phone to get more information (both have the highest population of landline-only users).
Claire Gillies, BT Group’s Consumer CEO, said:
“Moving customers onto newer digital services is a necessary step as the reliability of the 40-year-old analogue landline technology is increasingly fragile – therefore the time to act is now.
The Digital Switchover project requires team collaboration, so we’ve been working hard with industry partners and are really pleased to have the support of Government in helping us raise awareness and drive action.”
Rob Orr, COO at Virgin Media O2, said:
“With traditional analogue landlines becoming less and less reliable, the programme is essential step to safeguard services for the future. Inaction would mean putting services at risk.
Our message is clear: if you or someone you know use a telecare alarm, pick up the phone and talk to your provider. Let us know, and we’ll support you every step of the way.”
Since 2017, UK operators have been carrying out work to retire the decades old copper home phone network, which is reaching the end of its service life (in some ways it’s already gone past that), and move customers to digital landline services ahead of the analogue switch-off. “With over two thirds of landlines already migrated, the campaign is the final layer of protection to identify any additional users,” said today’s announcement.
Admittedly, the current effort should really have happened several years ago, but better late than never. Most of those who migrate today will already have a broadband line, which is needed for IP based digital phone services. But for those without broadband, BT will provide a special dedicated landline service, requiring no new equipment or engineer visit. This will ensure these customers can continue using their landline in the same way they do today, until 2030 (this is when the old exchanges start to be retired at scale).
The above reflects BT and Openreach’s launch of a new Pre-Digital Phone Line (PDPL) product (aka – SOTAP for Analogue). This essentially replicates how the old phone service worked, albeit over a more modern network (i.e. it does NOT require broadband or battery back-up to function). But this is only available to vulnerable and edge use case (inc. CNI) users on existing lines (not new customers) who would otherwise “face challenges” in migrating to IP based voice solutions by the deadline.