BT back-up measures get Oftel all-clear

NEWS UK telecoms regulator, Oftel has given BT the all clear on its emergency procedures, after it ordered the telco to overhaul its response to power cuts. Last May, a quarter of a million BT customers in Gloucester lost the use of their phones during a power outage. Both BT's back-up generators and emergency batteries failed. It took BT engineers more than twelve hours to restore the service completely. The incident prompted Oftel to launch an investigation, which criticised BT's lack of emergency preparations. The watchdog stressed that phone services need to remain in place during power cuts. An Oftel spokeswoman said: "Back in May, we were concerned because some areas were left for a long while without 999 service. We felt BT was not properly managed for these emergencies. But now BT has completely changed its procedures." BT embarked on a national audit of its emergency preparations, and the results were reviewed by Oftel. The regulator is now satisfied that there won't be a repeat of the Gloucester incident. A BT spokeswoman said the company has proved itself with its performance in December. "There was very bad weather in Scotland this winter, and all emergency procedures worked without incident. Scottish Power had major problems, but customers did not lose their phone service," she said.