THE MP for Hexham has welcomed the pausing of the digital rollout.

BT has paused its Digital Voice plans for consumers as it works on a more 'resilient' rollout.

Digital Voice - BT's new home phone service - will mean calls are made over a new broadband network rather than the old analogue network. Phones will be connected to broadband routers rather than into a wall-mounted phone socket.

The move, BT says, will provide users with crystal-clear calls, prevent the vast majority of scam calls and ultimately, will be more efficient on electricity usage making it better for the environment.

"We underestimated the disruptive impact this upgrade would have on some of our customers", the company said in a statement. "With hindsight, we went too early, before many customers – particularly those who rely more heavily on landlines – understood why this change is necessary and what they needed to do.

"We also recognise we have more work to do on getting better backup solutions in place for when things disrupt the service like storms and power cuts.

"We got this part of our programme wrong and for that, we’re sorry.

"The huge disruption caused by recent Storms Arwen and Eunice brought this into sharper focus when people – including many of our customers in rural areas – needed to get in touch with loved ones during power outages. While many lines were cut in those storms, including the older phone lines, as well as power lines, we do recognise that for some customers, making calls would not have been possible with a broadband-only connection.

"We have listened to our customers’ concerns and we have more work to do to improve the resilience of the network, working with energy providers on faster power restoration and providing better backup solutions for customers.

"Digitising the UK’s future is a national mission, and we’re determined to get it right."

MP Guy Opperman said: "Power outages caused by Storms Arwen, Corrie and Malik clearly showed that the digital phone network is not as resilient as it should be, with many constituents unable to make emergency calls.

"Since Storm Arwen, I have been meeting with ministers and urging them to pause the rollout of Digital Voice. I am delighted that BT has confirmed that they have suspended the digital switchover. This will restore confidence in the network so that when the next storm hits, people in Tynedale and Ponteland will be better prepared."

The rollout will continue, however, for those using BT's Fibre Voice Access broadband package and Enterprise customers.