Despite broad agreement on the need for extensive collaboration across sectors, tensions flared over responsibilities for supporting vulnerable consumers and businesses
Public communications on the switch-off remains a central conflict
On 5 March 2024, techUK hosted an event on the Digital Landline Switchover and Local Authorities to discuss the PSTN switch-off underway across the UK. Panels brought together central Government, Ofcom, local councils and industry leadership from communications providers, network operators and telecare device makers to discuss some of the most difficult challenges ahead in the digital migration process. There was general acknowledgement of the necessity of closing down the PSTN, but the responsibility for bearing the costs of the process, especially in the context of public outreach, proved highly contentious. While the Government, including representation from DSIT and the NHS, and Ofcom reiterated their commitments to safeguarding vulnerable consumers, industry, local councils and civil society advocates repeatedly expressed their desire to see the Government do more public campaigning on the impending deadline for the switch-off. Though DSIT previewed their intention to launch a campaign targeted at vulnerable consumers and telecare device users, the prospect of a national campaign on the switch-off akin to those seen in Australia and planned in Ireland was reiterated throughout all sessions. DSIT officials noted the difficulty of such a campaign given its need to reach audiences who face varying deadlines for switch closures and who have varying end devices which may require different preparations. In discussing the awareness gap, it was estimated that 27% of UK consumers surveyed by the Communications Consumer Panel were entirely unaware of the PSTN switch-off. Absent government intervention, operators noted their intent to conduct broader communications campaigns but shared their limited capacity to reach disengaged consumers and questioned whether they were the appropriate messengers to conduct that targeted outreach.
Who bears the costs, and who reaps the benefits?
Related to assigning responsibility for communicating the switch-off to the public, tensions flared over who carries the costs of supporting the migration process versus who enjoys the benefits of modernisation. Local councils in particular communicated their discontent with the financial commitments needed to complete the migration – estimated at over £100m for London councils alone – as well as the opportunity costs of redirecting valuable technology resources, such as engineering staff, away from other projects. Representatives from business communities and other sectors also noted that migrating other PSTN-dependent devices, such as fire alarms, lift phones and traffic lights, were creating significant costs and stressing supply chains which is further driving up expenses. While operators encouraged device makers and other stakeholders to take advantage of the testing facilities being provided as a material support for device migration, there was also concern that the process of testing devices with all communications providers was itself cost prohibitive. In light of Ofcom’s early objective that consumers should be no worse off following the switch-off, commitments made by communications providers in the December 2023 charter on the PSTN switch-off represent important costs of the migration to be borne by industry. However, councils and civil society noted that industry alone will primarily benefit from the financial savings of legacy network retirement, even if consumers do get the benefit of a more reliable communications infrastructure.
Next steps on the road to 2025
With the PSTN switch-off deadline of 2025 looming, the Government and industry both offered useful next steps for the digital migration. Since pausing the forced migration of vulnerable consumers in December 2023, operators reiterated the importance of improving data sharing with local councils to assist in identifying and supporting vulnerable consumers before proceeding with their migration. Operators also called on the Government to create a charter for telecare device providers with commitments on supporting their consumers through the migration process. For its part, the Government previewed its planned charter with network operators to supplement the earlier charter with communications providers and shared its intent to create a common definition of a vulnerable consumer. DSIT also welcomed input on its forthcoming communications campaign to reach vulnerable consumers. Though all professed a spirit of collaboration en route to a successful switch-off in 2025, tension is likely to continue to rise over the PSTN migration and particularly the Government’s role in helping consumers.
