Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is planning to take to support households in areas where full fibre will not be available before the public switched telephone network switch-off takes place.

The Government is committed to ensuring that any risks from the industry-led migration of the analogue Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to digital Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) are mitigated for everyone across the UK. Ofcom have confirmed that VoIP technology is more resilient, more secure, enables better quality phone calls, and can be used to block scam calls. Over 92% of PSTN landlines have already been migrated to VoIP.

In March 2026, the Government and industry agreed a new Fixed Telecoms Modernisation Charter to extend safeguards agreed in November 2024 to all future fixed telecoms modernisation programmes to help ensure that all customers are migrated safely.

Major communication providers have assured the Government that no existing PSTN customer will be left without a landline alternative and that every remaining PSTN customer has a viable migration route before January 2027. This includes households in areas that may not have access to full fibre.

In order to function correctly, VoIP requires a minimum connection speed of just 0.5Mbps, and, for current landline-only customers it will be possible to order a VoIP landline without purchasing a full fibre connection.