Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the planned switchover from landlines to digital technologies by January 2027 on rural households without broadband.

The Government is committed to ensuring any risks arising from the industry-led migration of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) are mitigated for all customers. No formal assessment has been made of the impact of the PSTN migration on rural households without broadband. In order to function correctly, VoIP requires a minimum connection speed of just 0.5Mbps, meaning that a broadband connection will not be required.