Government’s Minister for Telecoms, Sir Chris Bryant, has written to the major broadband ISPs calling on them to help protect vulnerable users during the PSTN switchover.
In his letter, Bryant asked them to refrain from re-starting non-voluntary migrations and offering battery backup for the new digital phonelines that can last “up to” eight hours.
Ofcom’s current minimum requirement is that backup systems, when supplied to vulnerable users, must be able to power the kit for “at least an hour” if there’s a power cut.
But the letter, which was addressed to Ofcom, TechUK and the bosses of BT (EE), KCOM, Openreach, Sky Broadband, TalkTalk, Virgin Media 02, Vodafone, Zen Internet and INCA, encourages internet and phone providers to propose a “clear plan for moving to best-in-class battery backup solutions, lasting up to eight hours.”
It reads, “Finally, we discussed the battery back-up solutions you provide to vulnerable customers. I appreciate the levels of collaboration that you are all showing on this, but across the industry there is still a large difference in service provided, ranging from sixty minutes of power resilience to up to eight hours.
“I am particularly concerned by this as customers in rural areas without good mobile signal are also the most likely to suffer long power outages. Therefore I would like you all to write to me by the end of September with a clear plan for moving to best-in-class battery backup solutions, lasting up to eight hours.”
The letter added that under the existing charter that was established to help protect vulnerable home phone users, both government and ISPs agreed “to not forcibly move customers onto the new [digital phone] network unless they are fully confident they will be protected.”
It added, “I also look forward to seeing the launch of the industry-funded national comms campaign aimed at encouraging telecare users (and their carers) to register their needs. For those using Openreach networks, I am interested in updates on progress of the media gateway product and the ‘prove telecare’ trial process.
“Because there is more to do, I am asking you to refrain from re-starting non-voluntary migrations for the rest of this calendar year. Safety must be our top priority, and I want to test that we have done all we can to avoid anyone further coming to harm as a result of this process.
“Within this, I am content with non-voluntary migrations that specifically target users that haven’t used their landline in more than 12 months, as was previously the case. These customers are not ‘landline-users’ by common understanding. I urge you to take all possible steps to exclude any telecare users from being migrated via this route.”