DSIT and telcos finalise protections for telecare users

Under the agreement, involuntary upgrades will start on a smaller scale than planned before being implemented more widely. The hope is that this will reduce accidental loss of phone service for those most likely to come to harm if they do.

Telcos have also agreed to offer vulnerable customers an optional appointment with an engineer who will test telecare devices to ensure they work on the upgraded network.

The measures were hammered out in a meeting between BT, Sky, Virgin Media O2 (VMO2), Vodafone, and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).

The government has also laid out what actions telecare providers need to take. They include ensuring that no telecare user will be migrated to Digital Voice without the CSP, the customer, or the telecare service provider confirming that the affected user has a compatible and functioning telecare solution.

These measures are due to be formalised in the upcoming Telecare National Action Plan, due to be published before the end of the year.

Also present at the meeting was Chris Bryant, the minister of state for data protection and telecoms. He also called for the industry to extend the power of battery backup solutions for Digital Voice to more than one hour, thus preserving access to emergency services for longer.

"Old fashioned copper wire technology is coming to an end. If we want to stay in touch with the rest of the world we need a complete overhaul of our digital infrastructure," he said.

"While this migration is necessary, it is vital the industry gets it right, and makes sure the most vulnerable are protected."

"This has kept me up at night and a priority that I have put at the forefront of my work since stepping into office," he continued. "I am pleased telecoms companies, central government, and local authorities are working in lockstep to achieve customer safety."

The industry is in the midst of a migration from the old public switched telephone network (PSTN) to IP-based voice – referred to more commonly as Digital Voice.

Landline users are unlikely to notice any change, until there is a power cut, at which point – unlike the old analogue service – they will lose service. For most people this is moderately inconvenient, but for elderly and vulnerable customers who rely on panic buttons to call for aid in an emergency, this could be a matter of life or death.

The prospect of emergency services being unreachable during power cuts did not go down well with the public. The resulting backlash against Digital Voice prompted BT to pause the rollout to give the telecoms and telecare industries – working in collaboration with the government – more time to implement contingency plans to protect affected customers.

Ahead of this week's agreement, VMO2 shared the results of a trial it has carried out in partnership with telecare provider Carecall, and an industry group called the Telecare Services Association (TSA).

Working together, they established a data-sharing agreement, enabling VMO2 to better track down telecare users. Of the 191 customers it identified, 31 had not previously been tagged as telecare users because they were using digital SIM-based devices operating independently of VMO2's telephony network.

Next, VMO2 and its partners reached out to this group – making appointments, upgrading where necessary, and testing devices to ensure everything worked following the switchover.

"The trial was a phenomenal success with 90 percent of customers agreeing to migration appointments, and almost all (96 percent) being migrated successfully," said Gareth Lister, VMO2's director of customer products, in a blog post.

With these measures in place – and with everyone from government, to telcos and telecare providers singing from the same hymn sheet – the UK might actually be able to move forward with this troublesome transition.