A recent survey revealed that 62.1% of UK businesses are still using landlines within their company and 45% are unaware of BT’s looming Big Switch Off deadline.
Context: At the end of 2025, businesses will no longer be able to use landlines as Openreach by BT plans to move all UK phone lines from the traditional Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to a fully digital network.
Although BT announced the Big Switch Off in 2015, a recent survey conducted by National Business Communications has revealed that 44.8% of businesses are not aware of the plan to phase out landlines.
The 2023 figure is an improvement from the 2021 survey, in which 59.7% of respondents confessed to not being aware of the move to routing all calls over IP (Internet Protocol). However, in two years, only a quarter of businesses have ditched landlines.
John Griffiths, Chairman of National Business Communications, said: “Businesses need to start preparing for the switch off now. We anticipate a hold-up in 2025 due to unprepared businesses, which may mean the industry won’t be able to keep up with the number of last-minute orders, possibly leaving businesses without a service.”
According to the survey, mobile phones are the main way businesses plan to go forward with calls after the Big Switch Off (86.2%) followed by VoIP (62.5%.) When comparing the 2023 survey to the previous one, it appears that 44.3% more people are unsure about the way they’d make business calls than they previously were.
Griffiths added: “Although this may sound scary to businesses who still depend on landlines, there are alternatives such as the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and the transition can be made smoothly.”
The Big Switch Off also includes the Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), a digital version of the analogue phone line which was introduced within the PSTN in the late 1980s.
It’s not just landlines that will be affected in 2025 either as non-voice services connected to the PSTN and ISDN such as CCTV, alarms, faxes, EPOS machines and door entry systems will also be turned off.
