Landline phones to be axed by 2025 in massive digital shake-up

2025 is set to mark the end of all traditional landline phones after a huge digital shake up by the telecoms industry.

In just four years from now, all households and businesses will need an internet connection if they want to make a landline phone call – those without will need an engineer to visit their home to get them set up and those with older phones could need to buy a new handset.

However, as millions of Brits are forced to move online, groups have raised concerns that elderly and vulnerable households will struggle with the change.

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According to Ofcom, roughly 6% of UK households – approximately 1.5 million homes – do not have access to internet.

Caroline Abrahams, director of Age UK, said: “Given that about half of older people over the age of seventy-five are not online, this could be a particular problem for our oldest citizens.

“Given the threat of fraud, telecom providers also need to take steps to prevent anyone who is in particularly vulnerable circumstances from becoming victims of digital scams.”

However, an Openreach spokesperson has stressed that protecting vulnerable customers is their utmost priority, saying in a statement: “Protecting vulnerable customers is an absolute priority for us. We are working with communications providers to identify vulnerable customers early on.”

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Ofcom has also said it was working to make sure vulnerable customers will be supported.

Another issue that’s risen has been the event of internet failure – what will happen if the internet connection is broken or unstable? Well, Ofcom has insisted that telecoms providers will have an obligation to their customers to provide all households with the relevant emergency services.