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Written question asked by Blair McDougall (Labour) on Friday, 4 October 2024, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 8 October 2024. It was answered by Chris Bryant (Labour) on Monday, 14 October 2024 on behalf of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.

Telephone Systems: Power Failures

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he plans to take with providers to help ensure the resilience of the telephone network, in the context of trends in the number of power cuts.

Answer

Although most power cuts are brief, the impact they can have on the telephone network is significant, particularly in rural communities. We are working closely with the regulator, communications providers and the power sector to improve resilience and minimise disruption to the public and businesses as much as possible.

Communications providers have statutory responsibilities to take all appropriate and proportionate steps to minimise disruption to services and must ensure at least one back-up form of communication is available for contacting emergency services for a minimum of one hour during a power outage. On 6 September 2024, Ofcom published detailed resilience guidelines specifying the measures that providers are expected to meet throughout their networks, including resilience to power cuts, and set out the analysis they are completing to consider whether additional resilience is required for mobile services.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
6800
Session
2024-26
Subjects
Power failures Telephone systems
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk