Why Your Landline May Not Work in a Power Cut and What We’re Doing About It

Garve and District Community Council

Added at 12:22 on 29 January 2026

 Following the many conversations recently about the loss of our landlines during power outages, Garve and District Community Council has written to UK Government ministers, Ofcom and telecoms providers to raise serious concerns about public safety in rural areas like ours.

During last week’s conversations with BT, we also learned that BT has entered into an agreement with Starlink and intends to offer Starlink services to BT customers during this year. No further details are available at present, but this forms part of the wider context of changes to how communications services are being delivered.

A key issue is the so-called battery back-up units offered with digital phone services. These are often presented as the solution to power cuts, but in reality they typically last around one hour at best. In a community where recent outages during storms have lasted three to five days, that is simply not a realistic safeguard.

What has changed?
The UK is moving from the old analogue copper landline system to digital phone services that run over broadband. Under the previous system, many traditional corded phones continued to work during a power cut because the line was powered from the exchange.

With digital landlines, your phone depends on your home electricity supply. When the power goes off, the phone usually goes off too, unless you have a battery back-up, and even then only for a short period.

This means a level of resilience we relied on for decades has quietly been removed.

What does the law say?
Telecommunications policy is a matter reserved to the UK Government. Under the Communications Act 2003 and Ofcom’s regulatory rules, phone providers must ensure people can still contact the emergency services (999 or 112). In the context of digital phones, this obligation is generally met by offering a resilience solution, such as a battery back-up unit.

However, the expected performance of that solution, roughly one hour of emergency calling, does not reflect the reality of life in remote Highland communities.

Why this is a bigger issue here in our area
Power cuts during severe weather are not brief. They can last several days.
Mobile phone coverage is patchy or non-existent in many places.
Many residents are elderly, live alone, or have health conditions.
Our communities are already recognised as vulnerable to weather and infrastructure disruption.
In practical terms, this means households can lose their only reliable means of communication after about an hour in a power cut. That is not an inconvenience. It is a public safety risk.

Lack of awareness
We are also concerned that many residents have not been clearly informed:

that digital landlines do not work in a power cut without extra equipment
that battery back-up units may be available
that these batteries only last a limited time
A safety measure people do not know about cannot be relied upon.

What the Community Council has asked for
We have written to the Secretary of State, relevant ministers, Ofcom and network providers asking:

What assessment was made of rural outage durations when the one-hour standard was set?
What evidence suggests this provides meaningful protection in areas where multi-day outages are common?

We have called for:
A review of whether the current resilience expectation is adequate for remote areas
A clear explanation of the policy reasoning behind the one-hour benchmark
Consideration of enhanced standards for high-risk rural communities
A government-required public information campaign so people understand the change and its limitations
Providers to identify and support not just individually vulnerable customers, but communities at geographic risk

Why this matters
This is not about convenience or nostalgia for old technology. It is about ensuring that a national infrastructure change does not reduce emergency communication resilience for rural communities.

We have asked for responses from government, the regulator and industry on how they intend to address these concerns. We will update the community when we receive replies.