Telecommunications Cables
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of alternate infrastructure to replace copper wire ADSL systems.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan
ADSL relies on the copper based Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). The PSTN is increasingly unreliable and prone to failure. In 2024/25 there were over 2,600 major incidents on the PSTN, each affecting 500 or more customers. This is why industry have taken the decision to upgrade to fibre-based Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).
VoIP technology is more resilient, more secure, enables better quality phone calls, and can be used to block scam calls. Fibre cables are less prone to damage during severe weather events, have a 50% lower fault rate than copper, and are more energy efficient. Fibre based digital infrastructure offers customers significantly faster speeds than copper-based ADSL.
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