More broadband firms pledge to ‘protect’ telecare customers

Most of the companies that provide the UK’S broadband infrastructure have now signed a Government charter committing them to protecting customers with telecare devices when upgrading old copper phone lines to the new digital network.

Eight firms signed up in mid-march: Cityfibre, Allpoints Fibre, Communityfibre, Ogi, Openreach, KCOM, Sky and Wightfibre. This follows BT, Sky Broadband, Talktalk and Virgin signing up in December.

It means the Government has now got commitments from most of the UK’S major telecoms firms.

The charter calls on the firms to “take steps to ensure their customers’ lifesaving buttons continue to work and functioning alternatives are in place before any migration takes place”.

One of these steps will be for infrastructure companies to check with broadband and phone providers whether their customers use a telecare alarm.

They’ll then need to give phone companies 12 months’ notice when moving a customer to digital, and discuss with them the best way to transfer that customer.

The charter also says that “no telecare user will be migrated to a digital landline service without the provider, customer or telephone company confirming that they have a functioning solution in place”.

In addition, infrastructure firms will work with Ofcom, the Government and phone providers to create “a shared definition” of what’s meant by a ‘vulnerable’ customer.

This will establish an industry-wide standard that’s no longer dependent on a specific company.

Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan said that the “safety of vulnerable customers comes before anything else and that’s why I called on the industry to listen to concerns and take action to make sure the right protections are in place” (see www.snipca.com/49659).

All operators are in the process of retiring the copper network by December 2025 and switching customers to full-fibre.