The Big Switch Off 2025

If you didn’t know already, in 2023 the UK telephone network will be changing profoundly.

This is the year that new sales of analogue (PSTN and ISDN) telephone services will end, and by 2025 they’ll be switched off altogether.

That means in the next two-to-four years your business will need to switch to an entirely different means of voice communication. You’ll no longer be able to rely on your traditional telephone line for making business calls.

According to research conducted by Zen Internet, it was found that nearly three-quarters of businesses use the phone for customer communications, so it’s clearly still an incredibly important tool. Yet despite its importance, most businesses are still unaware of the impending switch off.

And while there’s certainly no need to panic just yet, the sooner you’re aware of the coming change – and are able to plan for what’s to come – the better. In fact, this upheaval may actually present a number of business opportunities. As the switch-off approaches, you’ll have the opportunity to think about your business communications, and your connectivity.

Replacing your traditional telephony will be new VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) and cloud-based services. These services will rely on your internet connection rather than a traditional phone line, which means as a business you’ll need to consider whether the connectivity you have today is adequate for the future.

As your connectivity needs evolve however, so too will the continuing availability of full fibre broadband (FTTP or Fibre To The Premises). With its improved reliability and available speeds of (currently) up to 900Mbps, it will provide the perfect platform to carry your essential voice communications.

And those voice communications by the way should be higher quality and more flexible than ever before.

A third of the businesses surveyed report that remote working will remain an option for their employees, and this is where new types of voice communication will come into their own. With the move away from traditional phone lines, you won’t have to rely so much on making and receiving your calls in a single place (like the office). Instead, you and your teams will be able to communicate just as effectively from home – or anywhere you have an internet connection.