Current plans to close down the fixed Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) need a major rethink. We are in danger of a major misstep

Current plans to close down the fixed Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) need a major rethink. We are in danger of a major misstep which render our two-way public and other communications systems useless if we lose mains power.

When the PSTN was conceived we built in power resiliency, telephone exchanges had battery backup and even diesel generators to ensure that the system worked even during power failures. The copper wires to each household carried power and the telephones worked irrespective of mains power failures.

When mobile phones and the supporting infrastructure were later developed and rolled out, power resiliency was not built in so it is the case today that if the power goes off in your locality your mobile phone will most likely not work.

As broadband Internet systems were developed again power resiliency was not much in mind, there has been a significant roll out of powered modems in the street wiring cabinets, the home routers have no power backup and although you may have a laptop computer that works for a while on batteries, there will be no working broadband network when the local power is down

As the PSTN evolved over the years power resiliency diminished somewhat and the use of DECT phones which do not work when the power is down did not help here either. However, it is possible today to connect a wired phone when your power is down and find the system working a deal of the time when you have a local power outage.

If we move the PSTN to the Broadband Internet Infrastructure as is being proposed we will reduce the power resiliency further and introduce more risks due to the IP network which will be then carrying the voice traffic as well. This is because hacking IP Networks is well established activity and its very hard to compromise the PSTN in the same way. So even if we had power, we could find all the fixed line voice communication not working because of attacks on the IP infrastructure from criminals or hostile countries

So, imagine the scenario, the Power fails, your fixed phone is down, mobile back up does not work because the mobile network node is down, the TV does not work, mains powered radios are down, maybe local radio is down… You cannot contact emergency services (999), you do not know what is going on, you cannot cook, your heating is not working, you are 70 years old ill and cannot talk to your family

We need to do something here; we need to think about providing a Critical Network Infrastructure (CNI) for our country. Now is a time to really consider this and as we evolve the next PSTN we need to also think how we can provide the CNI that our country needs

This does not mean that we have to keep the existing PSTN but we should certainly not be in the process of closing it down until we have considered all the CNI aspects and developed a reasonable plan to prevent the scenario I have illustrated here.

Over the past weeks a number of very experienced communications experts with decades of experience have discussed the current plans for the PSTN removal and we find that they have not considered all the implications.  It is time to reconsider before the nightmare scenario above becomes a reality

I have asked them to repost this to their contacts with any comments they wish to attach.

Addendum

It is important to note here that the issues of the resilience of our UK communications networks extend beyond the PSTN although the PSTN currently helps to mitigate them. I can imagine many teenagers looking at their mobile phones forlornly when the mains power is out and the mobile network and Internet networks are off line, but the situation here affects us all, there is too much risk today that we are cut off from emergency services, and the ability to contact each other in times of trouble