The BSIA has created a toolkit for alarm installers designed to encourage their customers to ‘Beat the Big Switch Off’ and be All-IP ready as analogue lines are switched off at the end of 2025.
Since the initial announcement by Openreach in 2017 of the PSTN switch-off, the BSIA has been engaging with its members to ensure that they are fully aware and prepared for the final upgrade deadline of December 2025. Whilst many companies have engaged in discussions with their end users, and alarm signalling upgrades are happening, it is estimated a remaining 1,000,000+ PSTN-connected alarm systems in the UK have not yet transitioned; it is likely that many of these systems have an end user who may not even be aware that changes need to be made, or does not appreciate the seriousness of the deadline.
As the phrase ‘All-IP’ may not mean much beyond the industry, the BSIA, working with Openreach and supported by SSAIB and NSI, have created a campaign theme, ‘Beat the Big Switch Off’, encouraging end users to take the deadline seriously. The toolkit includes letter templates and flyers that includes FAQs that cover the concerns and queries which those still on PSTN lines may have, balancing useful information with the consequences of what may happen if they do not transition within time.
David Wilkinson, Director of Technical Services, BSIA, said: “Through the efforts of the association and its members, feedback suggests that end users still do not fully understand the impact or are in some cases dismissing the transition to All-IP as something that won’t affect them.
“We are encouraging our members and the wider industry to assist with this roll out of important information and we hope the toolkit will play a significant role in achieving this; the effect that this will have on end users who depend on these alarm systems has the potential to cause serious disruption and create risks, not only in the supply chain, but in the daily use of these systems.”
The toolkit will be rolled out to the industry and can be downloaded from our All-IP pages.
ENDS
Openreach has stopped selling the copper product known as Wholesale Line Rental (WLR), which relies on the PSTN. Starting from 5 September, new WLR lines, broadband over WLR, and transfers of WLR between Communication Providers (CPs) will no longer be provided. They will continue to collaborate with CPs to migrate their customers to digital-only service (All IP), with particular attention given to the vulnerable and Critical National Infrastructure.
This is a major milestone ahead of switching off the PSTN in December 2025.
The service for those who already have it continues until the end of 2025, or until CPs migrate the customer to another product likely to be based on digital technology. You will be contacted by them when they are ready to migrate your lines.
More information about the change can be found on the Openreach website..
Should you wish to understand more about the above or any other related matter regarding the ALL-IP / PSTN switch-off, please do not hesitate to contact the BSIA technical team.
Are you an Installer or an ARC? Have you completed our short, important ALL IP status survey yet? If not, please complete it now and support our industry in understanding the full picture of the transition as we approach the crucial stages of the PSTN switch-off.
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The BSIA is calling on the UK government for clarity on how it intends to fill the void left after the recent resignation of its Biometric & Surveillance Camera Commissioner (B&SCC) and the abolition of its office.
The current commissioner, Fraser Sampson, will remain in post until the end of October, before the functions of the role are expected to be subsumed by the Investigatory Powers Commissioner, as part of the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill (DPDI), which is proceeding through parliament. The Bill, as currently written, also removes the need for the Government to publish a Surveillance Camera Code of Practice.
The BSIA has worked closely with the Office of the Surveillance Camera Commissioner since its formation in 2014 and the commissioner at that time, Tony Porter, welcomed the opportunity of engagement from the BSIA, who went on to lead two of the key industry strands of work around the National Surveillance Camera Strategy for England & Wales. In this capacity, the BSIA worked with other stakeholders to create several foundation documents, including the list of key recommended standards for use in video surveillance systems, a buyers toolkit, the passport to compliance, and a ‘Secure by Default’ self-certification scheme for manufacturers.
A great deal of this work is currently set to be archived when the office is finally closed and it is unclear how the transfer of the functions of the B&SCC will be carried out in practice, and if engagement with industry practitioners will even be a consideration.
Dave Wilkinson, Director of Technical Services, BSIA, said: “We are both disappointed and concerned about the proposed abolition of the B&SCC. Given the prolific emergence of biometric technologies associated with video surveillance, now is a crucial time for government, industry, and the independent commissioner(s) to work close together to ensure video surveillance is used appropriately, proportionately, and most important, ethically.
“We are therefore, on behalf of our industry asking for clarity on how the government intends to fill the void. The B&SCC was a sterling example of a government and private sector partnership with tangible outcomes of benefit to all; failure to continue in a similar vein would be detrimental to any progress in future implementation of codes of conduct.”
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Professor Fraser Sampson, the Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner for England and Wales, will step down from his role in October.
In a letter published on the 7 August, Sampson officially handed his resignation to the Home Secretary, confirming that he would resign from his post on 31 October 2023. Sampson was originally appointed in March 2021. Behind the resignation is the expectation that the functions of the Biometrics & Surveillance Camera Commissioner are to be subsumed by the Investigatory Powers Commissioner and Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
This move has been outlined in the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill, which is currently going through the legislative process. The Bill makes amendments to the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, where both the office of Commissioner for the Retention and Use of Biometric Material and the office of Surveillance Camera Commission will be abolished. The Surveillance Camera Code is also being abolished as a result.
In the Bill’s explanatory notes, the Government argued that by doing so, it will “simplify oversight and remove duplication of functions”, with the ICO already having oversight of the use of personal data captured via surveillance camera systems. The ICO will consequently continue to provide independent guidance and regulation of the use of surveillance camera systems, designed to make it “easier for the police, local authorities and the public to understand and comply with any requirements”.
Overall, the Bill is intended to make the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) more practical and less burdensome, while maintaining high data protection standards. It is expected to pass through the legislative process and become a new Act sometime in 2024. Sampson had previously voiced his concerns over moving functions of his role into the ICO. The Government scrapped its original plans for such a move in June 2022. He had highlighted that the functions of the Surveillance Camera Commissioner, in particular, was a strategic role in providing oversight of the surveillance of public space. In a letter in November 2021, he explained:
“Both functions are about much more than upholding data rights. Proposing their absorption by the ICO is to misunderstand their specific nature and importance of both.”
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The PSTN switch-off by December 2025 is a milestone event for the security & fire industries, having a tangible negative impact on legacy PSTN-connected signalling devices. Our key drive is to raise awareness of the transition to an ALL IP environment, and to that end, we have initiated a short survey to all installers and ARCs to gather a ‘picture’ of the current state of migrations of the PSTN network, along with the challenges faced by industry practitioners. Please can we encourage you to share your information in the interest of the professional security industry – we are stronger together!
The survey will take less than a couple of minutes to complete and can be accessed here.
All responses will be collated by the BSIA technical team, anonymised, and used solely as an industry-wide report. No individual company submissions will be shared with other security industry companies.
This communication is part of a wider campaign driven by the BSIA to raise awareness of the ALL IP transition to its members, the wider industry stakeholders, and those organisations that influence the change in the telecommunications sector. The goal is to ultimately educate the end-user on the changes and the impact this is likely to have on their installed alarm systems. Please look out for further important communications on this subject.
We look forward to receiving your survey response. If you need any further support or have any questions on the above, please do not hesitate to contact the BSIA technical team at technical@bsia.co.uk.