Telecoms Bulletin - BT and Openreach Announce Extended Timeline for the Analogue to Digital Migration
On Thursday 16th of May, BT and Openreach announced an extended timeline for the analogue to digital migration, whereby the existing analogue PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) technology, which supports phone and broadband services, will be retired and replaced with a digital network.
BT and Openreach have extended this migration until January 2027 in response to a recent mandated pause over winter 2023. This serves as a buffer for BT and Openreach to be able to complete the migration from analogue to digital safely. This extension only affects BT and Openreach networks, other telecommunication providers do not need to abide by this. Virgin Media, who run their own network, appear to have reiterated that their aim remains to complete the migration by the end of 2025.
As no pause or delay has been announced, the migration work by BT and Openreach will continue through this window. Therefore, it is necessary for Telecare Service Providers to continue their efforts to implement digital telecare services to stay ahead of the migration.
It is important to note that we continue to see failed calls from analogue telecare equipment over increasingly digital networks. We believe that the safest way to mitigate this risk for service users is by implementing end-to-end digital services.
Due to the hard work of the Scottish sector, led by the Digital Office Digital Telecare Programme for the past five years, Scottish telecare is in a much higher state of digital readiness than the rest of the country. With the adoption of the Shared ARC Platform, we expect to see many more Telecare Service Providers fast-track their analogue to digital migration.
The Digital Telecare Programme will continue to work in collaboration with Digital Health and Care and COSLA to ensure that Scottish Telecare Service Providers are equipped with the resources to deliver transformational change and achieve better outcomes for service users ahead of the analogue switchover deadline.
The Digital Office is still waiting for direct comment from BT or Openreach on this announcement. We will update you if anything changes on this developing situation. If you have any questions, please get in touch with the Digital Telecare team at: digitaltelecare@digitaloffice.scot.
