14 SWITCH-OFF 01732 759725 communications providers) put a temporary halt to the forced migration of vulnerable customers to digital lines while it implemented the Government’s Charter to protect vulnerable customers and helped set up, in January 2024, the Telecare Action Board (TAB) to identify telecare users and others who will need to be protected in the switch to digital. In April, BT’s Consumer division re-started forced migrations to its Digital Voice landline service, while continuing to offer and develop alternative options for vulnerable and landline-only customers who don’t have broadband or mobile connectivity. These include free battery units providing backup power so that phones can continue to operate in the event of a power cut; and a hybrid phone with a battery back-up and the ability to make calls over the mobile network. This autumn, BT will be introducing an interim landline service that will allow landlineonly customers to stay connected within telecoms in the last 30 years, but there has been very little official endorsement of it. “As a result, businesses tend to respond to it in one of four ways: some acknowledge that it's happening and are already on that digital journey (often prompted by channel partners); some have a degree of apathy and think December 2025 is a long way off and all they have to do to go from the old technology to the new is to flick a switch; a third group doesn’t believe it will ever happen; and, lastly, there are those who are living in ignorance and know nothing about it. This is where ‘promotion’ at an executive and commercial level is required to bring it front of mind. while they are moved off the PSTN. This ‘pre-digital phone line’ will give customers who don’t have broadband the ability to use their landline until 2030 or until a digital solution becomes available. This option will also be available to business customers with specialist connectivity requirements, such as alarms, lifts and emergency lines, ATMs and payment terminals. In fact, BT Business is urging business and public sector customers to register their interest in testing this product. One of the benefits of the switch-off delay for businesses is that it will give them more time to audit their comms estates and identify any ‘specialist connectivity requirements’ they might have, while enabling them to develop an All-IP comms strategy and secure additional funding that might be needed for new equipment. Here is how some leading providers of business communication have reacted to news of the delay. “The fact that there hasn't been any official, public acknowledgement of the switch-off is detrimental to UK business and is partly why there's an estimated 9.2 million PSTN assets still out there that need to be transferred. “A lot of those PSTN assets are invisible. Businesses may not realise they're there or they might take them for granted and not know what the underlying technology is. Often, these are critical services that need to be ‘on’ at all times, such as alarm systems, keyholder alerts and emergency phones in lifts. The physical job of transitioning such assets onto an IoT solution or some IP back service is going to be a challenge given that we BT Group has extended the deadline for moving all customers – consumers and businesses – off the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and onto digital landlines, from the end of 2025 to the end of January 2027. The delay, which effectively gives customers another year in which to make the move, has largely been welcomed by the comms industry. The switch-off campaign has been criticised for a lack of government engagement, low levels of awareness and a failure to meet the needs of vulnerable customers who rely on a landline, including 1.8 million users of telecare for remote support. Unlike the copper PSTN network, which incorporates a 48 volt DC signal that ensures continued operation during a power cut, modern digital equipment provides no such safeguard, potentially putting lives at risk. In December 2023, BT Consumer (and other Time to audit comms Julien Parven, Director of Partner Business, Daisy “I think the deferment of the final deadline was inevitable. I also think it is beneficial. “It was inevitable because there just hasn’t been executive sponsorship at a government level, even though the switch-off is an ideal vehicle for propelling us towards the government’s goal of a ‘superfast Britain’. “Cast your mind back to the analogue to digital TV switchover and the coverage and level of sponsorship that received. To my mind, the PSTN switch-off is of much greater significance. It is probably the single most significant event to have happened More time to act, not delay Leading business telephony and connectivity providers react to BT Group’s decision to delay the PSTN switch-off by a year Julien Parven Daisy
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