[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by Ken W

Some while ago I had my phone dead in a power failure and when the power was restored I spoke to VM and the woman agent said phone me back when it happens again. I checked with Ofcom and all phone cabs should have backup batts in the case of an emergency AN EMERGENCY such as 99 call
2 weeks later VM replaced the batteries.

The guidance has been updated to reflect newer technologies and doesn't now mandate batteries in the network where other options are feasible:

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/consultatio...ions-power-cut

Providers should have at least one solution that enables access to emergency organisations for a minimum of one hour in the event of a power outage in the premises

A1.10 We consider that providers should have at least one solution which would allow customers to access emergency organisations in the event of a power outage at their premises.

Providers should have at least one solution
A1.11 The obligations in GCA3 are technology neutral and therefore we do not intend to prescribe what type of solution providers should employ for the purposes of providing access to emergency organisations in the event of a power cut at the customer’s premises.

A minimum of one hour
A1.12 We consider that a solution would in most cases meet Principle 1 if it offered the customer the ability to access emergency organisations on the emergency call numbers of 112 and 999 for a minimum of one hour following a power cut. Providers must also ensure equivalent access48 to emergency organisations for those customers that use textphones/text relay. These customers cannot dial 999 or 112 directly but use access codes, typically 18000.