PSTN telecommunications switch off: why businesses should act now

Despite BT announcing a deadline change, Dom Norton at Spitfire argues that businesses shouldn’t delay the move to all-IP any longer

As we enter summer 2024, the PSTN switch-off is starting to loom large for next year. However, this week BT announced the 31st December 2025 deadline has been delayed by just one year and one month until 31st January 2027.

For anyone who is not up to speed on things, (BT) Openreach will be switching off all analogue PSTN and ISDN telephone services. This is due to the ailing infrastructure in the UK, which has used a copper telephone network for nearly 150 years. As this is no longer a viable option, the UK will be replacing this infrastructure with an all-IP, fibre network.

Although this is clearly the future for telephone services in the UK, it is perhaps surprising to see that the majority of UK businesses have not started the shift to all-IP at all. This is despite all the warnings regarding the disruption this could cause. With a delayed deadline, acting now will benefit businesses in the long term.

High business priority?

Only last year, we (Spitfire) conducted a survey to gain perspective on the situation, which revealed some quite alarming data. Nearly three quarters (72%) of UK SMBs still didn’t consider the PSTN Switch Off a high business priority, despite being warned about the impact of failing to engage in any switchover.

Our survey of 400 UK-based SMBs also brought to light that an astonishing 42% of businesses remained blissfully unaware of the switch-off. Of greatest concern to me, though, is the lackadaisical approach adopted by many business leaders, who seem quite happy to leave things to the last minute. That being the case, we predict a serious bottleneck in Openreach services as customers all try at once to get their connections live ahead of the deadline. The worry is that business leaders may kick the can further down the road after this week’s news.

There’s no doubt that the legacy technology will become increasingly unreliable, and prices are also likely to continue to increase on the old network services for analogue, ISDN and broadband, with decent cost savings already available on their all-IP voice and fibre broadband alternatives, not to mention the other additional benefits, including more flexible working.

Adopting a ‘head-in-the-sand’ strategy ahead of the switch-off in 2027 is as useful as a chocolate teapot. If your business hasn’t switched over to a different telephony solution by then, your telephony service will be interrupted, to say the least. However, by getting the ball rolling now, you will be in a much stronger position to facilitate the transition into all-IP.

Move to VoIP

If your business is late to the party, then there are technologies that can help you prepare for the big switch-off. Perhaps your business has already been offered the option to change your PSTN phone line altogether in favour of VoIP?

This is a great move to make right now. It means that your business could avoid the undoubted carnage that will unfold when large numbers of businesses all endeavour to switch at the same time.

Let’s face it, the switch is going to happen anyway, so why leave things till the last minute? By using your current broadband connection, it’s an easy step to then add on VoIP services and retain your existing landline number.

With respect to VoIP telephony, you can currently choose between two main options. The first is SIP trunking, whereby your business can make calls through your on-site Internet connection via your on-site PBX. The second is a Hosted (Cloud) Phone System. With a Hosted PBX solution, you can switch your telephony system to a completely cloud-based solution, no physical hardware needed.

Hosted PBX

If your business is currently managing the myriad challenges of a remote workforce, then a hosted PBX is an excellent solution. It gives teams the power to stay in touch productively with all calls made over VoIP. With an Internet connection, you can work with a hosted PBX system to make a call from wherever you are.

If, for example, you are a small high street business using one or two phone lines, the advantage of adopting a fully hosted solution is that you usually only pay for the capacity used. A hosted PBX offers relatively low cost, ease of management and is very scalable. This is ideal for businesses of all shapes and sizes who seek to grow successfully and reduce any communications headaches.

A huge advantage for your business when making the switch to VoIP is an overall decrease in costs. VoIP calls are transmitted over a SIP network which has been designed to make network management much more cost-effective. That means savings on the bottom line for your business.

And another very big win with VoIP is improvement in call quality that you will experience. If you have the right connectivity provider in place, VoIP technology can bring you much clearer and sharper sound quality which is always a big thing when making an important sales call or presentation. Your business benefits in terms of productivity and efficiency.

Act now

Given the constraints of limited engineering resources, Openreach may be unable to handle a surge in demand in 2025/2026 from a large number of residential or business telecom end users. The stark conclusion is that many UK businesses may be left without working telecommunications on 1 February 2027. Consider the impact of no internet access, no telephone system or no burglar alarm or lift line.

Although this revised date buys more time and indeed may now seem some way off, the huge task of moving to an all-IP future proofed service remains. Customers should still aim to act now, as the announcement only provides a one-year extension, and we are still likely to experience resource bottlenecks as the months go by.

Thus, we remain steadfast in our opinion and continue to push the message out—new deadline or not—to make 2024 a year of change for your business.

Dom Norton is a Director at Spitfire

Main image courtesy of iStockPhoto.com and kool99