The British Security Industry Association (BSIA) is urging security installers to act on their alarm signalling estates in advance of the transition to an all IP (Internet Protocol) fibre based voice service. Migration in some areas is happening as early as the autumn.
As aired by Openreach at the BACPO conference for public safety communications in March just before lockdown, this issue was featured in the May print edition of Professional Security magazine.
The trade body says that installers need to be aware that:
– Openreach is upgrading the analogue telephone network to an all IP service with the plan to migrate to a full Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) digital platform by the end of 2025. As the telecoms firm says, these changes are happening because the PSTN system is dated, difficult to maintain and because of the global move to digital.
– The electronic security industry will see the effects of the migration later this year when BT Consumer plan to expand their Digital Voice customer criteria to include ‘special services’ like security and fire alarms and care pendants. Installers may start to get enquiries from customers asking how their alarm system may be affected.
– Openreach are running IP voice trials in the Salisbury and Mildenhall exchange areas and PSTN services will no longer be sold in these areas from December 2020 and May 2021 respectively. Based on Openreach data, about 30,000 residential and business premises are in these exchange footprints. Any of these premises with an alarm that uses a PSTN line for signalling will be affected.
– From June 2021 a further 117 priority exchanges across the UK will be migrated to the IP voice service affecting up to 1.2 million customers. After that, PSTN services will no longer be sold in these exchange areas, which includes Belfast, Birmingham, Cornwall, London, Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool.
Openreach has some 5600 exchanges to upgrade; quarterly announcements are expected for exchanges subject to migration to meet that 2025 deadline.
As the BSIA says, many security systems are subject to police and/or insurance policy conditions and customers have an expectation that their system will function on the new IP Voice service. Installers need to be diligent in ensuring this remains the case. The regulator Ofcom and telecoms stakeholders are also urging security Installers and the wider industry to be prepared for the changes. Alarm signalling will be affected and installers should contact their signalling service providers to limit the impact of the all IP transition on their customers.
David Wilkinson, Director of Technical Services at the BSIA, pictured, said: “we have been keeping our industry sector up to date with the changes as they have developed, and given the recent announcements from Openreach, Ofcom and communication providers, our message has escalated to a ‘call to action’ asking installers to take proactive steps to mitigate the risks of systems that may fail to operate if left unchecked.”
