Advice offered on fibre broadband changeover

Customers concerned about transitioning from the copper network to fibre broadband have been urged to contact their service providers.

It follows Manx Telecom's (MT) announcement that it would begin a copper network switch-off programme next year, with the infrastructure phased out in 2029.

However, concerns have been raised about the potential impact of the move on vulnerable customers who use analogue carephones.

Nicola Walton from adorn home care and carephone said older devices that were connected through a phone socket would no longer work after the switch-off.

As the devices were used for those who have falls at home, Ms Walton said she was "concerned" an individual could be on the floor after a fall, press the button for help and not know that it would not work.

If the carephones were using phonelines, people "should be asking questions", she said.

MT's chief technical officer Hugo Van Zyl encouraged customers to contact their service providers and highlight any specific issues that may arise so they could arrange the move to fibre.

The firm would work alongside those providers to "ensure" customers were not left without "functional" broadband, he continued.

While the ambition was to have fibre deployed to "all premises on the island", there would be "a couple of exceptions" due to "geographic limitations", he said.

In those instances MT could use mobile or radio solutions, and the announcement of the switch-off was to migrate "as many customers as we can and to allow enough time to find solutions for the situations that are not as straight forward", Mr Van Zyl added.

Customers who had not yet transitioned to fibre would be notified from early January, and would have 12 months before their copper network was switched off.

The phased programme would begin with areas classified as zone one, namely Kirk Michael, St John's and Foxdale, in early 2026.

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