A lady on the phone at home (Image: Getty)
Thousands of vulnerable customers could be left without any means of communication if telecom firms forcibly switch Britons away from copper-wire landlines, campaigners have claimed. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has urged customers and their families to contact their landline providers to ensure they receive additional support through the digital switchover.
But Dennis Reed, director of Silver Voices, said it should be telecom companies' responsibility to make personal contact with the customer or their carer before the switchover takes place. He warned that thousands of vulnerable customers could otherwise find themselves “without any means of communication with the outside world”.
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Traditional landlines are set to go by January 2027 despite concerns the digital version is vulnerable to power cuts and internet outages. People might not have a mobile phone or a signal.
Mr Reed said: “The minister has swallowed the assurances of the telecom companies, who are only interested in the profits to be made from this premature switchover rather than the health and safety of their customers.
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“He is being poorly advised by the Civil Service, but it is cowardly and disrespectful of him to refuse to meet me to hear the other side of the story. He is snubbing all those tens of thousands of worried customers who have signed our petition.
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"When the inevitable horror stories emerge at local level of vulnerable customers finding their landline cut off when they need to make an emergency call, the Government will bear joint responsibility for the consequences with the telecom companies.”
Silver Voices’ petition opposing the forced switchover has been signed by more than 90,000 people.
The group warned that apart from those with telecare alarm systems, the telecom companies will require customers to self-identify that they rely on their landlines for safety reasons, before being offered support with the switchover.
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It added that if vulnerable customers fail to respond to a letter from the company giving them a switchover date, the transfer will go through automatically and a router will be delivered to the doorstep for the customer to set up.
DSIT has said the landline companies will send an engineer to carry out the switchover and personally test the telecare alarm, ensuring it continues to work once a household has moved onto the digital network.
They will also offer vulnerable customers a free battery backup device so their landline can continue working in an outage.
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The Department for Science Innovation and Technology (DSIT) spokesman said: “The campaign launched this week is a further layer of protection to identify all those needing support – whether they are telecare users or not. It does not replace the safety actions companies have to implement.
“All companies still have to complete a strict checklist of actions demanded by the Telecoms Minister before migrating a vulnerable customer, including sending engineers to test alarms and provide battery backups to be used in outages.
“We have engaged at length with charities and stakeholders as we continue to make the transition as safe as possible.”