Public service providers urged to plan for copper wire switch off
Fiona Simpson
Wednesday, December 13, 2023
Childcare providers, schools and local authorities have been urged to plan for the switch off of BT’s copper wiring system.
In 2017, BT announced plans to retire its existing analogue PSTN copper infrastructure by the end of December 2025.
The switch off renders any technology connected to the PSTN network, such as phone lines, fire and security alarms, IT back-up systems, emergency-pull cords in disabled toilets, and lift emergency-call lines, as obsolete once the copper wire is turned off.
MA Business Comms Fit to Switch campaign is calling for greater support for local authorities and public services like schools and nurseries to ensure they are prepared for the switch to the fibre network.
According to the campaign, many businesses and consumers are unaware of the impending switch, with many at risk of losing their telephone and internet services if they do not install the Openreach fibre network in time.
It states: “If you or your business relies in any way upon those old, familiar copper telephone wires, you need to take action now, before the old telecoms network gets switched off, to make sure you’re Fit to Switch.
“That doesn’t just mean the phone you and your switchboard use to make and receive calls. It means the lines which provide your card payment services. Or your automated burglar alarms. Or process control alerts. Or the emergency calls from your lifts.”
Co-founder Chris Pateman, said: “The technologies at risk are not small things, they are not things we cannot cope with. If you have not anticipated the change, you are at great risk.
“These risks can be mitigated very easily, but we all have to act now.”
Fit to Switch told a press briefing that BT’s transformation, which began is 2018, is behind schedule, as the phased transition is less than 40 per cent complete.
Find out more about the campaign here.
