Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to help people to prepare for the digital switchover in rural areas.

The Government has acted to ensure 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. Major communication providers and network operators signed voluntary charters in December 2023 and March 2024. To enhance protections for vulnerable customers, the Government secured new commitments from the telecoms industry in November 2024, including further safeguards set out in the non-voluntary migrations checklist.

One of the safeguards is to ensure that customers that have been identified as vulnerable, are provided with a battery back-up solution that provides over one hour of access to emergency services in the event of a power outage. This includes those who are landline dependent (e.g. because they live in a mobile not-spot). Many providers are going beyond these safeguards, including batteries that last 4-7 hours.