- BT claims that upgrade from older networks could save the British economy £ 3 billion
- PSTN Resilience -Events are increasing, of ofcom says
- Many European countries are already in front of
A new BT report has revealed how much the British economy could win by upgrading critical services, estimating that the UK, by digitizing them and closing analog networks, could net £ 3 billion.
This figure takes into account both the cost of upgrading networks and the cost of maintaining PSTN and 2G networks, with benefits that range far beyond relief to include energy and water companies, healthcare and local authorities.
The report comes at a central time – Ofcom has revealed a 45% increase in resilience events on PSTN, which costs much more than just time and money.
Upgrading Networks actually promises to save money
According to BT, 750,000 unnecessary ambulance trips could be saved, and up to 280,000 fake fire department’s callouts caused by older alarms could be avoided while saving 12 million hours of council staff and 600,000 NHS hours, all now and 2040.
“This research sends a clear message: Delaying the change to Digital carries a real cost for public services, the environment and the wider economy,” noted BT Business CEO Jon James.
However, change is on the horizon, with PSTN retirement kit for January 2027 and both ofcom and the government, which encourages those who use the network to migrate by the end of 2025.
BT boasted of having already migrated 300,000 older PSTN lines in 2024.
However, Britain is already at risk of falling behind many European countries with Germany, Spain, Italy, Portugal and France all already together. Additional delays can cause higher costs, miss efficiency gains and reduced service resilience in general.
Matthew Howett, CEO of Assembly Research (Partner of this Report), added: “Our research found that although the energy and water sectors are already well into their migrations, it is important that others follow to avoid growing costs and miss efficiency.”
