One signal

The UK is spending £70m developing high-altitude aircraft that could provide emergency mobile phone and internet connectivity for at least a week, the BBC reports. The service is being developed, not yet deployed.

There is an awkward timing detail: copper landlines, which stayed working during a major Lancaster blackout, are due to be switched off on 31 January 2027. The government says the old network is unreliable and difficult to repair. Emergency connectivity is becoming a question of which backup survives when the power goes, not simply whether the broadband is fast. Should the UK keep a working legacy fallback until newer systems are proven in practice?

Discuss: Should the UK keep a working legacy fallback until newer emergency communication systems are proven in practice?

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