Some utility firms will have to upgrade ageing IT infrastructures to remain operational when BT’s 21st Century Network (21CN) is introduced.
By 2011 BT wants all customers to move off the public switch telephone system to an internet protocol (IP) structure, which could disrupt communication between utility control rooms and outstations.
The cost of replacing equipment incompatible with 21CN is likely to be significant, says a spokesman for the Energy Network Association.
‘There is no agreement on whether BT or the utility industry will have to bear the cost of having to deal with IP,’ he said.
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