Thousands of vulnerable people could be put at risk of isolation in emergencies, a campaigner has warned, as plans continue to cut off copper-based landlines and replace them with digital phones.

The copper network is being phased out by BT Openreach, which provides the hardware for telephone lines, by the end of 2025. That means all landline telephones will switch to being powered by home internet connections.

BT has said that the new digital system is more reliable and resilient than the copper infrastructure, which has powered most landlines since phone communications began in the 1880s.

But with an estimated 10.1 per cent of people across Yorkshire not connected to the internet in their homes, there are fears that the new system could lead to isolation as well as causing issues if there is a power-cut.

Derek Brown (pictured with his wife Margaret) is campaigning to raise awareness of the copper phone line switchover

Copper-based landlines that are not connected to hands-free sets often work during power outages, whereas phones that are connected to routers will disconnect along with internet access.

Campaigner Derek Brown, from Northallerton, has raised the issue with his MP, Chancellor Rishi Sunak.

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Mr Brown, 71, who is a full-time carer for his wife, Margaret, who has dementia, said: “They’re working on the principle that most people have a mobile phone.

“But there’s millions of vulnerable people who will be switched over to the new system, whether they like it or not.

“Somebody, somewhere, is going to finish off in a box over this, and that’s why I’m concerned.

“The question is - what if people haven’t got a modem? Then these phones are a waste of space.”

All customers will be moved to the new system by the end of 2025, although vulnerable customers will not be switched to the digital technology until at least 2023.

BT is also working with the Age UK charity to raise awareness of the changes.

Battery packs with an hour’s worth of power are being dispatched on request to customers during the switch-over.

And some vulnerable customers are also eligible to apply for a back up battery with 24 hours of charge, but Mr Brown said he was charged £35 by his GP for a signature to prove he falls under that eligibility.

While the completed switch is not due until 2025, BT is now offering internet-based phonelines as standard for customers in some areas of Yorkshire including Castleford, Wetherby and Hornsea.

A spokesperson for BT said: “We have begun moving customers who already have a broadband connection in their home and have put measures in place to ensure customers flagged as vulnerable customers who do have BT broadband are not upgraded until much later in the programme.

“We’re working on other solutions for those customers and we will be sharing more plans on this later next year.”

Openreach was created as a result of a strategic review by the telecommunications watchdog, Ofcom, in 2005.

Before the review, BT owned and managed the phone and broadband network. However, Ofcom decided a new organisation was needed to make sure all communications providers could access the network fairly.

By 2007, Openreach had 10.7m lines available in the UK and 400 communications providers using them.

Campaigner warns vulnerable at risk amid plans to switch phone landlines to digital