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<p><i>From Alistair Carmichael's weekly email:</i></p>
<p style="margin:0;mso-line-height-alt:16.8px"><strong>Resilience
assurances needed ahead of copper wire network shutdown</strong></p>
<p style="margin:0;mso-line-height-alt:16.8px"> </p>
<p style="margin:0;mso-line-height-alt:16.8px">
On Wednesday, I also spoke in Parliament on local concerns about
the planned shutdown of the copper wire network by the end of
2025.</p>
<p style="margin:0;mso-line-height-alt:16.8px"> </p>
<p style="margin:0;mso-line-height-alt:16.8px">
The “Voice over Internet Protocol” (VoIP) system replacing copper
wire only has a resilience of one hour using a backup battery with
Openreach, and relies on a broadband connection.During the power
outages in Shetland in December last year, some properties were
left without power for as long as six days – clearly something
here does not add up.</p>
<p style="margin:0;mso-line-height-alt:16.8px"> </p>
<p style="margin:0;mso-line-height-alt:16.8px">
To say that <a
href="https://click.ngpvan.com/k/73647154/439177810/-1939571240?nvep=ew0KICAiVGVuYW50VXJpIjogIm5ncHZhbjovL3Zhbi9MSUJVSy9MSUJVSy8xLzM4NTM1IiwNCiAgIkRpc3RyaWJ1dGlvblVuaXF1ZUlkIjogIjZhYTA5OGExLTA5ODctZWUxMS04OTI1LTAwMjI0ODMyZTgxMSIsDQogICJFbWFpbEFkZHJlc3MiOiAicmljYXJkaWFuQGNsYXJlbW9udHN0cm9uc2F5LmNvLnVrIg0KfQ%3D%3D&hmac=2pSgUGTZhwpJnrSF53-xf2jnRoWrvTH5rpXlb0SjRwk=&emci=16844c18-e986-ee11-8925-00224832e811&emdi=6aa098a1-0987-ee11-8925-00224832e811&ceid=397233"
style="text-decoration: underline; color: #2b59c3;">the response
I received</a> was poor would be an understatement – suggesting
that this was simply a matter for industry. This is the definition
of an issue which cannot be left to the market. Without
intervention businesses are always going to put rural and island
communities at the back of the queue.</p>
<p style="margin:0;mso-line-height-alt:16.8px"> </p>
<p style="margin:0;mso-line-height-alt:16.8px">Ministers and Ofcom
must improve their answers. We need a proper plan to maintain
resilience in future, whatever happens to the copper network.</p>
<p style="margin:0;mso-line-height-alt:16.8px"> </p>
<p></p>
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