Is your business ready for 2025 PSTN switch off?

According to a report from BT, Cisco and Gamma, just eight percent of businesses in the UK are ready for the 2025 PSTN to switch off.

In November 2017 BT publicly announced its intention to switch off PSTN & ISDN in 2025. With the swift evolution of technology, modern IP-connected systems such as VOIP is well placed to take over, with the improvement in mobile and fixed Internet connectivity in the UK. The ongoing process of decommissioning PSTN will be providing a staggering reduction in cost for both service providers and consumers as maintenance for PSTN lines is no longer required. This switch-off impacts all services and devices that rely on traditional dial-up connections including alarms, EPOS machines, door entry systems, CCTV, and faxes. Two million UK businesses will be substantially impacted if the migration plans aren’t set – many small businesses still rely on faxes and landline telephones. According to research conducted by Cisco, Gamma and BT, 36% of businesses with over 51 employees stated strategy plans are in place and only 7% are fully equipped for the switch-off.

Potential Solutions

Network providers should be offering users support in migrating these services, which means guidance on services that will be discontinued services that are still compatible. The support includes testing equipment for continued functionality over IP, replacing, upgrading, or reconfiguring as required. Ofcom’s guidance also expects providers to support users with access to emergency services (999) – ensuring continued availability for at least one hour in the event of a power outage. Network providers must attempt and identify at-risk customers, communicate effectively, and ensure awareness of protection solutions available.

For residential customers, the decommissioning will mainly impact their traditional phone connection which would now function via their broadband hub, therefore an IP-compatible device will be required to maintain a physical handset. For medium and large businesses, the solutions and services that are important for the transition are: Hosted IP Voice, SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) Trunking, Unified communication and 5G alternatives.

Hosted IP Voice – Transfers the handling of all inbound and outbound calls into cloud-provided services, this can be delivered to the site in different ways but typically over internet access.
SIP Trunking – Essentially for larger clients, replaces ISDN or older voice trunks from on-premises PBXs or IP voice systems. It was designed specifically to deliver IP-based calls, and anyone connected to the legacy ISDN should be migrating to this solution.
Unified communications – Mainly implemented in advanced companies, this provides and combines multiple enterprise communications channels, such as voice, video, personal and team messaging, voicemail, and content sharing. This can include control, management, and integration of these channels. For example, Teams.
5G – In rural areas where fibre can’t be provided, 5G, which builds on from 4G is seen as the alternative. It holds a high capacity with reduced latency making it a viable alternative to physical wiring or even fibre to connect to client premises. Numerous operators worldwide are already offering 5G based broadband services to domestic users

We encourage organisations to pay attention to their use of legacy services to ensure that technical debt issues are identified and addressed. Wavestone has helped many clients assess their existing environment, evaluate viable options, and establish optimal strategies. This includes risk and cost-benefit analysis, sharing market insights and strategies for transformation such as remediation and migration plans. Wavestone then supports the journey to source and adopt new solutions.