Preparing for The Great Switch Off

Preparing for The Great Switch Off

The communication landscape is shifting, with businesses and consumers no longer seeing voice as the primary solution. Digital transformation is driving a move towards a connectivity-first approach.  

At the heart of this digital transformation is the retirement of traditional copper lines and the rapid rollout of far superior replacement products. 

In May 2024, BT Group and Openreach announced their reset of the PSTN switch-off from December 2025 to January 2027. This reset allows more time to safely manage the migrations of the c. two million UK users of telecare products.  It comes after non-voluntary bulk migrations were paused at the end of 2023 following several incidents of telecare devices failing post-migration.  

But does this date reset mean we can all sit back and relax for a while longer?  In this article, we’ll explore the reasons why we at Giacom think the complete opposite, and why we believe that now is the opportune time to be moving full steam ahead with your move to All-IP.  

Don’t sit on your assets

At Giacom, our message is a very clear one – “don’t sit on your assets”.  Although 2027 feels like a long time away, the date reset has only actually given us a 13-month extension.  While this gives us a bit more time to make this transition easier and smoother, it shouldn’t be seen as an opportunity to spend more time doing nothing. 

A recent Comms Dealer article with insights from a panel of industry commentators urges that “The PSTN switch off delay gives channel firms more time … but the January 2027 deadline must not be seen as an excuse to ease up on IP migration…” 

The original date of December 2025 is still an important one in the WLR withdrawal timeline.  Openreach will still be terminating existing WLR contracts from that date. After December 2025, the remaining WLR assets will be subject to a three-month termination notice period.  

Mat Swift, co-founder of Fit To Switch commented to Comms Dealer that “Providers still need to talk to their customers about migrating to newer alternatives, and there is a huge opportunity for every business to transition to the technologies that are the best fit for their needs.” 

The benefits of moving to All-IP 

Eli Katz, chair of Comms Council UK, said of the WLR switch-off delay, “There are clear benefits and opportunities for both customers and the broader economy of moving to an all-IP world of communications.”  

One of the main benefits of migrating away from legacy copper products is that the new technologies on offer are faster and more resilient. Users won’t experience the problems that traditional voice solutions have, such as lag and jittering. It’s becoming increasingly hard to maintain legacy products, with replacement parts and skills becoming scarce. This was seen notably in the fact that PSTN incidents increased by 20% in 2023.  

Also high on the list of benefits is cost. Openreach is regularly increasing the price of WLR products, making them more expensive and forcing customers to make the move away. Alongside this, carriers have some incredible offers, discounts, and cashback options available at the moment, to entice customers to migrate now.  

We are urging our partners to take advantage of these carrier offers while they last. We have no idea what the carriers will do closer to the switch-off date but it stands to reason that by that point they may not feel the need to run offers because everyone will be forced to make the change anyway.  

Move your copper assets now 

At Giacom, we want to make it easier for partners to migrate their legacy services to All-IP, which is why we recommend moving your existing copper-based services to a trusted provider before switching to All-IP. This makes the IP migration much easier when the time comes, especially when you choose a supplier like Giacom, who manage the migration for you, from base analysis to order management. 

Now is the opportune moment  

Now is the ideal time to get ahead of the competition.  Let others sit back and wait, while you advance and reap all the benefits of doing so.  

In 2023, Talk Talk Wholesale Solutions, now PlatformX Communications, published a report titled ‘Industry trends shaping the channel’. In that report they predicted that the “migration to FTTP is a once-in-a-generation growth opportunity with projections of 0.4 million connections in 2023 rising to 1.6 million in 2026, meaning that 1.2 million FTTP connections are up for grabs.” They also warned that “Resellers who wait too long to act on the demand signals and fail to plan ahead risk being outpaced by more agile and responsive competitors.”  

We know that one of the concerns you may have is that FTTP isn’t available everywhere yet. We’re urging partners not to let that stop them from migrating away from legacy copper services. Migrating to SOGEA or SOADSL will give your customers the freedom to upgrade to FTTP as and when it becomes available. It frees them from the shackles of having their broadband and phone lines linked together. The earlier you migrate your customers, the easier the process will be.  Engineers are widely available, so it’s easier to get number porting dates aligned with engineer visits. The closer we get to the switch-off date, the more in demand the engineers will be, making this process harder to coordinate.  

Buyers are looking for a partner 

At Giacom, we recently hosted a “Hunting for Growth” webinar with Karthik Pannala, principal analyst at Analysys Mason. One of the things that Karthik was clear about is that “…SMBs are looking for a strategic partner to support them on their growth journey, and they’re willing to switch Channel partner to achieve that.”  

SMBs know more than ever what products are available. They’re more technologically savvy and they’ll favour resellers that can offer the best products on the market.  

In an article titled ‘A Unique Moment in Time’, Andrew Wilson, Wholesale Channel Sales Director at CityFibre warns that “Choosing a supplier to partner with is critically important. This is a race now and the copper switch-off is a once-in-a-generation change.” 

Don’t let the worry of Telecare stand in your way 

Telecare services on the end of legacy WLR products are a real concern, but several initiatives are working to ensure that migrations can occur safely.  

Openreach has recently launched a new trial, Prove Telecare. The trial aims to help UK consumers with an analogue-based phone and telecare system to safely migrate to modern broadband connections with IP phone services. The trial will run until 22 October 2024, with the solution expected to be made more widely available later this year. 

At Giacom we take this very seriously and we are proud to have been invited to take part in the Telecare Advisory Board. We will be working closely with BT, Openreach, representatives from the UK government, and Telecare providers, to understand what we can do to help identify and safely migrate Telecare services onto digital products.  

We have access to ARC (Alarm receiving centre) reports which we use to analyse our partners’ data. It helps us to identify analogue lines in their estate that are likely to be connected to a telecare product. We include this in our free-of-charge base wash service which helps our partners to better understand their WLR estate and their options for migrating to All-IP.  

On top of this, as an added safety net, if an Openreach engineer identifies a telecare device during a SOGEA or FTTP installation, they will not complete the installation. They will use specific reason codes to notify CPs. 

We can help 

Here at Giacom, we have a product set ready to future-proof businesses for the next generation of connectivity, voice, and cloud solutions. 

  • Our All-IP Partner Pack is the perfect toolkit for partners who are looking to migrate their legacy WLR and Broadband assets to future-proof solutions.  
  • We answer all your burning questions in our FAQ section. 
  • There’s even more to be found in the new Resource Hub, including our Campaign Kitbag, Great Switch Off Battlecard, and White Labelled End User Leaflet. 

Prepare your business for The Great Switch Off effortlessly with Giacom. 

Further reading