PSTN

With the Public Switched Telephone Network switch-off set for January 2027, BT’s Steve Blackshaw provides a useful update on the risks of not being prepared.

The planned retirement of the UK’s Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), which currently supports all analogue phone lines, marks a pivotal moment for emergency services to switch to digital: it presents a transformative opportunity to modernise and radically improve how these services operate.

Security and fire alarms, lift lines and gate entry systems are just some of the devices using the UK’s ageing copper landline network and, according to BT, around 70% of its emergency service customers are yet to are yet to put a contracted plan in place to move their connected devices away from the legacy Public Switched Telephone Network.

BT has found a new green use for its old phone cabinets to help with the move to net zero by turning them into electric vehicle charging points.

As the 2025 deadline to switch off the copper telephone wires that form the Public Switched Telephone Network or PSTN grows ever closer, Kevin Quillien from tech firm Krucial maps out what this means for the emergency services.