The PSTN switch-off: why waiting for the deadline is a risky strategy

Earlier this year, we published an article reminding businesses that the PSTN switch-off has entered its final year. We highlighted Openreach’s scheduled price hikes for legacy lines and the hard January 2027 deadline.
You’ve probably heard those warnings before. But as we get further into 2026, the conversation needs to change, because there’s another looming threat attached to the switch-off.
If you’re still waiting to move your voice and connectivity to a future-proof service, you’re now risking a very bumpy road in getting there.

The bottleneck is building

Right now, millions of legacy copper lines are still active across the UK. Every one of them needs to be migrated to a modern, digital alternative before January 2027.
And that’s going to cause a mathematical problem, because lots of migrations into very little time is a difficult sum to balance. Perhaps the biggest problem with this bottleneck is the finite number of engineers available to carry out the work.
As we head towards the end of the year – particularly from around November onwards – industry experts predict a severe squeeze on engineer availability. For businesses putting off their upgrades, the demand for installation dates is going to create a headache.

The double risk of waiting

If you push those essential upgrades down the to-do list, it’s not just a missed deadline you need to worry about.
The risk of upgrade delays is still very real of course. And the longer you leave it, the lower down the queue you’re likely to find yourself, which means long waits while you continue paying the inflated prices Openreach is applying to legacy services.
But the other risk – the one that doesn’t get talked about – is the delays to repairs. If your business is still running on an obsolete copper line and it develops a fault, you’ll need an engineer to fix it. With those engineers tied up migrating millions of businesses away from copper services, getting someone out to fix a broken line is going to take a lot longer. Are you prepared to risk prolonged downtime when you could have upgraded to a reliable solution months earlier?

Take control of your timeline

The switch-off is definitely happening, so there’s no commercial benefit in waiting for the inevitable bottleneck. Acting now means you have more control over your upgrade. You can get the work done on your own terms, before the nationwide scramble begins.
It’s also the perfect time to review your setup. Services like business full fibre and CloudComms are built for an all-digital future. They’re designed to give you a clean break from old technology and ensure your business is ready for whatever comes next.
If you’ve not started your migration plans yet, speak to us to secure your upgrade, and get it sorted while engineers are still readily available.