Delay scrapping landline phones for the sake of vulnerable and older people

CAMPAIGNERS are calling for a delay in plans to ditch telephone landlines next year, claiming it could endanger vulnerable people.

- Martyn Brown

Thousands have signed a petition urging ministers and the telecoms industry to postpone the switchover to a digital system.

Providers including BT and Virgin say the new technology is easier to maintain and will perform better.

But campaigners say 999 calls will be impossible if there is a power cut as the new "Digital Voice" phones only work with a household electricity supply.

Online

They also rely on broadband - but 1.5 million homes are not online, it was said.

Dennis Reed, director of the Silver Voices campaign group for the over60s, said: "It is no longer good enough for the Government to leave this major infrastructure programme to the telecom industry.