BT announces regional rollout schedule for Digital Voice

by Stuart Ashmore

BT has recently announced the next phase in the rollout of its new home phone service, Digital Voice, to UK customers on a region-by-region basis.

Following successful pilots in Salisbury (Wiltshire) and Mildenhall (Suffolk), BT announced plans earlier this year to start contacting customers on a phased region-by-region basis across the country. Starting with the East Midlands in July, Yorkshire and the Humber in August and Northern Ireland in September, customers are contacted at least four weeks in advance before making the switch, to ensure that they are ready to move to Digital Voice.

As part of this phased rollout, the West Midlands is scheduled for Spring 2024

Spring 2024

  • West Midlands
  • South East
  • Wales
  • East Anglia

Throughout the programme, BT will also be contacting some broadband customers in England, inviting them to switch their landline to Digital Voice in advance of local and regional campaigning in their area.

The landline is here to stay

The move comes as part of an industry-wide shift from analogue to digital landlines, where calls are made over a broadband line, and will see BT and nearly all other landline operators in the UK, including Virgin Media O2, supporting their customers in making the switch by the end of 2025.

The landline isn’t going away but is being upgraded to replace the decades old analogue technology that is increasingly unreliable and is no longer supported by suppliers and manufacturers. Customers risk facing increased service outages if this urgent infrastructure upgrade isn’t carried out now by BT and other operators. This new future-proof, digital landline technology is also a major step towards preparing the country for a Full Fibre future, in support of the UK Government’s gigabit connectivity ambitions.

Digital Voice will have no impact on how BT customers use their home phone and will not cost any more than customers pay today. They’ll still have the same service, and price plans and bills will stay the same. In addition, more than 99% of phone handsets work with Digital Voice and for those that won’t, BT has a range of handsets that customers can order.

In support of its regional approach and building on the successful starts in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and Humberside, BT is explaining to customers the simple steps required to make the move to Digital Voice through local and regional media and advertising campaigns. BT will also have a high street presence and hold local ‘town hall’ drop-ins to answer customer questions in person.

Initially, BT won’t be proactively switching anyone who falls under the below criteria, where it has this information available:

  • Customers with a healthcare pendant
  • Customers who only use landlines
  • Customers with no mobile signal
  • Customers who have disclosed any additional needs.

Customers who fall into any of these categories should contact BT to ensure their data is up to date.

Customers over the age of 70 are not being proactively switched to Digital Voice. However, since July 2023, BT has been trialling switching customers between 70-74 who live in urban areas and are ready to make the switch, i.e. they have the latest broadband hub and are not frequent landline users. These trials have gone well to date, with 98% of customers choosing to make the switch, and pending further consultation with the Digital Voice Advisory Group, BT will look to extend this trial nationally.

For more information, visit: BT announces regional rollout schedule for Digital Voice