BT must rethink this rollout or risk lives

I have a dear friend, Margaret, who is in her 90s. She nursed her husband for six years until he died; now she lives alone. She is disabled, so is imprisoned in her flat, and her landline is her only connection – her lifeline. I ring her on it each week.

I dare not tell Margaret the news that will, I know, devastate her. By 2025, BT and the other phone companies have decided that all our landline phones and the copper wires that work even during power cuts and internet blackouts will be cut off. The theory is that they will be seamlessly replaced by digital phones that make calls over broadband. But for many of the most vulnerable, isolated people that is simply not true.

The fact is that 1.5 million people have no broadband and these connections are in any case vulnerable to outages, storms and power cuts. BT tells us we will be able to use mobile phones as backup. But this does not account for patchy coverage. It also says if power cuts occur it will supply its most vulnerable customers with battery packs to keep their internet routers going. But these supposed fail-safes last only a couple of hours.

What if an emergency arises and there is no way to dial 999? What if a home is on fire and they cannot alert the fire brigade? About 55pc of callers to The Silver Line use landlines and I know from the letters I have received how much fear and distress this rollout is causing. How can the telephone industry have come to this draconian decision without consulting the most isolated people? What a tragedy it would be if one of their customers were to be found too late, unable to call for help because their lifeline had been switched off. BT must dramatically rethink the rollout and the regulator, Ofcom, must insist the vulnerable are able to opt out or delay their switch until crucial problems are solved.