Telecommunications: Emergency Services

(asked on 21st February 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the upgrading of the telephone network, what steps she is taking to ensure resilience in telephone access to emergency services, particularly during a mains power failure.


Answered by
Julia Lopez Portrait
Julia Lopez
Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
This question was answered on 1st March 2022

The upgrade of UK landlines from the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to Voice over IP (VoIP) technology is an industry-led initiative. Despite this, the Government and Ofcom are working together to ensure consumers and sectors are protected and prepared for the switchover process.

The Communications Act (2003) places obligations on Communications Providers, implemented under Condition A3 of Ofcom’s General Conditions of Entitlement, to ensure that any caller can access Emergency Organisations (Police, Ambulance, Fire & Rescue, HM Coastguard) by using the emergency numbers “112” and “999” free of charge. If calling via mobile, this enables calls to 999/112 be made via another network if the caller’s mobile provider cannot provide a signal to make the call.

Alongside this, Ofcom has imposed regulatory obligations on communications providers to ensure customers have uninterrupted access to emergency organisations in the specific event of a power failure. The guidance states that providers must have at least one solution available that enables customers to access emergency organisations for a minimum of one hour in the event of a power cut, and that it must be offered free of charge to customers who are at risk due to their dependence on their landline.

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