Why the WLR switch off is an opportunity, not a threat

The 2025 switch off is significant for the Telco industry and will have a huge impact on many people’s lives. But that doesn’t make it a bad thing.

The countdown is on

While 2025 may seem like a long way away, Openreach's timeline reveals that there are big changes coming soon.

In 2023 Openreach will stop selling and making products available for new supply. By April 2025 they will focus on the migration of ‘orphaned’ end customers to new voice IP services. Finally in December 2025, all ISDN and WLR services and relevant products will be withdrawn and no longer be in use. 

What’s driving the WLR switch off?

Openreach have outlined several key reasons for the switch off.

PSTN services are old and getting harder to maintain, plus there is a growing global trend to move away from traditional phone networks to IP based voice solutions.

Openreach have continually been investing in a broadband infrastructure and encouraging customers to move from traditional calls to Internet-based voice solutions, with plans to consolidate exchanges throughout the country. By enforcing the 2025 cut off point, users will swiftly migrate onto the new systems by a set deadline.

Think opportunity, not threat

With 16 million lines to be migrated and 400+ CPs, we understand that the switch off can seem like a challenge. In addition, many of the lines are connected to critical, often lifesaving, services such as emergency alarms and traffic lights.

However, before you panic, we urge you to think of the switch off as an opportunity to introduce a variety of IP based voice products to your customers and guide them into the future of voice, rather than seeing it as a threat.

TalkTalk Business will help you grow during the 2025 switch off

• As a Tier 1 operator, we’ve been running WLR equivalent/Class 5 services for 15 years to over 4 million VoIP end-customers. These includes over 1m customers through hundreds of CPs.
  
  
• Our Core SIP network switches over billions of minutes each year, along with our wide portfolio of IP Business services supported across multiple access technologies.
  
  
• We are a strategic Partner of Openreach and will work incredibly closely with them to update you on the switch off.
  
  
• We will help you stay up to date with key timings through regular communications. Plus, if you can’t attend Openreach’s working groups, we can represent your feedback and provide you with all the updates that follow.