The loss of PSTN and ISDN could come too soon
The UK could face a fatal communications meltdown in its public services according to new research by cloud and managed services provider Maintel. In the carnage caused by the loss of PSTN, traffic lights will fail, ambulances can’t be organised, payment systems won’t work and even if casualties make it to hospital, they may find the whole facility closed.
The problem is that a comms legacy, comprising ISDN, PSTN and WLR, is due to be ripped out and they have done nothing to replace it. This is because Britain’s councils don’t know what these terms refer to, let alone how they will deal with their withdrawal. With only three years to formulate a strategy, lethargic public sector decision makers will ‘sleep work’ into a crisis and the green lights of networks will be extinguished at councils all over the UK. Since many of these networks are used to run emergency services, there could be many human casualties too.
The potential problem was exposed by a journalistic exercise by Maintel, which submitted Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to a number of UK local councils. Each asked a simple question: what is the council’s strategy for the impending Wholesale Line Rental (WLR) withdrawal of Public Switch Telephone Network (PSTN) and Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) services. The answers revealed that most have no strategy at all.
Many councils did not answer the FoI. Of the 40 local government councils across England and Wales that did responded to the questions, 23 admitted they have no strategy at all.
Given the notoriously slow pace of progress in local councils, three years is barely enough time to arrange a meeting, some say. The implication is that 56% of councils will almost certainly be grounded by ‘PSTN-exit’. The other 44% are still open to question.Though the statistical relevance of a small survey sample could be questioned, there are still serious concerns raised.
Failure to plan for the wholesale line rental scrappage could have a huge impact on organisations, their users and their citizens, according to Dan Davies, chief technology officer at Maintel. “Alarms and lifts rely on PSTN lines, so offices and hospitals will not meet safety standards and will be forced to close,” said Davies. Telephony systems that connect to the outside world via ISDN could also be cut-off, cutting critical services.
Maintel’s FOI found that 10 of the 14 London boroughs (70%) that responded to questioning have no strategy in place, while only four indicated they do. If the switchover is not done in time then alarm lines, traffic light systems, payment terminals, payphone lines, medical devices and external connectivity to telephony systems could all fail. “Migrating ahead of the WLR withdrawal [could] be a huge undertaking for organisations. Decision makers shouldn’t wait until 2025, as exchanges are being phased out now,” said Davies.
BT will switch off the PSTN and ISDN in 2025, but all WLR products will be removed from sale by as early as September 2023. Organisations using ISDN, PSTN or DSL broadband services must migrate them to new digital alternatives. This could create huge opportunities for service providers and cloud operators.
When councils do rise from their slumber they will discover that the current supply chain issues for networking technology can exceed 12 months. Then they may be hoist on their own planning petard as they experience first hand the joy of installing new technologies across their historic buildings. They need to account for this in their FY 2023 budgets to ensure that any technology upgrades needed can be ordered to be delivered and installed in time for 2025. This means that they must begin comprehensive estate audits now, in preparation for identifying any affected services.
Of the councils that do not have a strategy in place, most have no goal date for completion in mind, said Davies. Among those that do, most say they are expecting completion by 2025, when traditional copper phone line services will be withdrawn. “The past two years have delivered huge uncertainty, but the 2025 deadline for the PSTN and ISDN switch off is one thing that’s for certain” said Davies, “Councils must act now to ensure services can continue to function.”