BT has said it is delaying the switch from the analogue Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to digital landlines until the end of January 2027.
Originally, the telecoms giant aimed to complete the transition to digital by the end of 2025 but it has said the move “follows the introduction of a series of improvements to the programme”.
It comes after a government charter, introduced late last year, has asked UK phone providers not to force people to switch over until better protections are in place for the vulnerable and elderly.
Howard Watson, chief security and networks officer at BT, said: “The urgency for switching customers onto digital services grows by the day because the 40-year-old analogue landline technology is increasingly fragile.
“Managing customer migrations from analogue to digital as quickly and smoothly as possible, while making the necessary provisions for those customers with additional needs, including telecare users, is critically important.
“Our priority remains doing this safely and the work we’re doing with our peers, local authorities, telecare providers and key Government organisations is key.
“But more needs to be done and we need all local authorities and telecare providers to share with us the phone lines where they know there’s a telecare user,” he added.
BT and other operators with legacy copper phone infrastructure are in the process of upgrading all of their old analogue phone services on to a fully digital, full-fibre network, as the use of traditional home phones declines.
However, the new services are not powered remotely, so they stop working during a power cut. Internet service providers can often provide limited battery backup solutions.
But these services may not be compatible with older alarm or telecare monitoring systems, an alarm service that provides elderly people who live alone with somebody to call for help.
For those without broadband, BT is developing a temporary landline service to keep them connected until a digital solution is available or until 2030.
BT has urged businesses to move their operations to all-digital networks as soon as possible.
Shares in Britain’s biggest telecoms company shot up last week despite an almost half a billion writedown of the value of its business – with traders betting the firm is finally about to reap the rewards of an expensive technological rollout.