Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will take steps to work with Ofcom to ensure that people who still use landlines after the PSTN switchover process is completed in 2025 are able to access landline payment plans (a) without broadband internet connection included and (b) that only charge them for their phone usage time instead of operating as a set monthly payment plan.

PSTN’s replacement, VoIP technology, requires a minimum stable connection speed of just 0.5Mbps, and, for current landline-only customers on BT and KCOM (the universal service providers), it will be possible to order a VoIP landline without purchasing a general internet connection.

Pricing in the telecoms market is ultimately a commercial decision and is a matter for the independent telecoms regulator Ofcom. That being said, the government is clear that the PSTN migration should not be used as an opportunity for providers to exploit consumers with disproportionate costs for the necessary upgrades.