The NFU has welcomed BT's decision to delay the rollout of its digital landline switch due to fears over power outages and poor phone signals in rural areas.
Digital Voice, which was due to roll out in 2025 but will now be introduced in 2027, is BT’s new home phone service which makes calls over broadband rather than the analogue network.
Instead of plugging a home phone into a wall-mounted phone socket, customers connect their house phone to their broadband router.
However, the move is controversial because it will mean in the case of an outage, which can occur in some rural areas, landline phones would no longer work.
In this case, some phones would usually be able to pick up a mobile signal as a backup, but in remote areas, there is often no signal at all.
The NFU has raised concerns over the project, calling mobile phone signals and broadband service "patchy and unreliable in rural areas".
The union's most recent digital access survey showed that only 21% of farmers had reliable outdoor mobile signal across whole farms.
And one in 20 farmers reported that they had no reliable outdoor mobile signal on their farm at all.
Responding to BT's decision, NFU vice president Rachel Hallos said it was 'positive' for farmers in remote areas.
“I’m pleased that BT is listening to its customers and ensuring that the necessary infrastructure is in place before the transition to Digital Voice is completed," she said.
“However, this switch is inevitable, and we continue to ask government to prioritise the rollout of 4G across the country so that those living in rural communities can use mobile phones confidently in emergencies.”
