Could millions lose out due to landline switch off?

The elderly and vulnerable are among the millions of people being warned that they could face isolation by losing access to their landline, 40 years to the day since BT officially retired Britain’s iconic red telephone boxes, as the UK telephone network undergoes its biggest transformation in decades.

About a third (34%) of us do not understand that the traditional Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), which has carried voice calls for decades, is being migrated to Digital Voice technology, with the old copper network being switched off in January 2027, and what this digital switchover means for them. 

Receiving more calls from loved ones would help more of us (36%) tackle loneliness but almost half (46%) have concerns about older relatives and friends feeling lonelier and more isolated if they were to be deprived of access to a landline.

Ros spoke to Richard Tang, CEO of Zen Internet.

Photo by William Hook on Unsplash