Frustration as Ofcom See Delay to Faster UK Broadband ISP Switching UPDATE5

Consumers looking to change broadband providers in the UK will be unhappy to learn that the UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has confirmed a delay to the introduction of their faster and more extensive One Touch Switch (OTS) migration system – possibly by 6 months or more – because ISPs are not yet ready to support it.

At present, switching between ISPs on Openreach’s national network is a fairly easy and largely automated Gaining Provider Led (GPL) process (i.e. just contact your new ISP to start it). The catch is that it doesn’t work for operators on physically separate networks, such as Cityfibre, Hyperoptic, Virgin Media and many more (Summary of UK Full Fibre Builds), and takes up to 10 working days to run its course.

The regulator sought to rectify both challenges with their OTS system, which would make switching between ISPs – on any fixed line network – faster, cheaper (i.e. no need to pay for two services at once) and result in less connectivity downtime for consumers.

Ofcom finalised all this back in September 2021 and, in recognition of the huge complexity involved with trying to adapt this to work across lots of different networks, gave the industry until 3rd April 2023 to implement it. But getting all ISPs to work together (essential for OTS to function properly) and establish a common approach has not been a quick or easy process.

In response, broadband providers from across the industry established The One Touch Switching Company (TOTSCo) as a not-for-profit vehicle – owned by the membership – to take responsibility for the development and operation of the related messaging platform. But this was only setup in June 2022 and that left very little time for development and testing of an extremely complex system, which for many smaller ISPs meant effectively starting from scratch (see last year’s article for more detail).

Suffice to say that delays were looking inevitable and, at our last update in January 2023 (here), TOTSCo informed ISPreview that their current “best estimate” for when the Hub itself would be available for users in a “test environment” is around August to November 2023 (subject to revision). This suggested to us that full deployment may not happen until 2024, since testing across such a complex market will probably take months. As one major ISP told us late last year – “It’s not that we won’t be ready in April – it’s that the whole industry won’t be ready.”

Ofcom has previously informed us that they were “very concerned” at the slow pace of progress. At the same time, they also warned ISPs that a failure to be ready in time could be considered a breach of their rules, albeit without saying what action they’d take – the carrot (patiently delay implementation) or the stick (fines / punishment until it’s ready).

In the end, Ofcom has confirmed that OTS is not ready for launch and have opened an investigation (enforcement programme), but their update admits that they don’t know how long it will take before the new system is actually ready.

Cristina Luna-Esteban, Ofcom’s Director of Telecoms Consumer Protection, said:

“Industry has had plenty of warning, plenty of time and plenty of support to get this done. It’s extremely disappointing and frustrating, and providers have let their customers down.

We take compliance with our rules very seriously, and have launched enforcement action to make sure companies get this up and running as quickly as possible.”

But not all ISPs agree that the fault rests with them, and have shifted some of the blame back on to the regulator.

James Warner, CSO of FullFibre Ltd., said:

“To say the delay to One Touch Switch is disappointing is a huge understatement. This process was announced in 2021, and we are still waiting for it to become a reality. Making switching easy for consumers will provide massive benefits to the fibre market, and they are having to wait for even longer to be able to easily adopt better broadband deals.

This is another example of Ofcom falling short when it comes to supporting the wider fibre sector, specifically, the altnets like FullFibre that are working extremely hard to build alternative networks and support Project Gigabit in fairly adverse conditions.”

On the one hand it’s easy to understand Ofcom’s frustration in all this, after all they’ve spent the past few years laying the groundwork for it via several long-winded industry consultations. Perhaps one problem with this approach is that, over that same period, the market has exploded with a mass of new infrastructure level competitors, many of which will be too new to have become fully engaged in the regulator’s earlier process.

Equally, Ofcom could have perhaps been more proactive in helping the industry to establish TOTSCo much sooner, since it seemed clear that such a centralised platform would be necessary and require the engagement of all ISPs. Setting such things up was always going to be a painfully slow and complex process, not least since getting masses of ISPs and networks to work co-operatively together can sometimes be a bit like herding cats.

At the end of the day, consumers will now have to wait much longer before they’re able to see the benefits of OTS and, in a market with this many alternative networks – where fear of switching is a known problem for many consumers (i.e. risk of extra costs and downtime) – that’s hugely disappointing. On top of that, it remains unclear whether ISPs will even be ready come the new deadline.

Meanwhile, the Independent Networks Co-operative Association (INCA), which represents UK alternative broadband ISP networks, has set out an action plan to help firms stay on the right side of Ofcom (we’re told ISPs that follow this are likely to be considered compliant by the regulator). INCA are also happy to provide advice to anyone impacted by the OTS process, whether members or not (call 0330 113 2074 or email ots@inca.coop), and they have an OTS webinar on Thursday 27th April.

INCA notes that Ofcom’s delay is not letting firms off the hook, and they need to be warned that they now have a few months to get all their customer services systems ready for when the switch-on does happen. This delay will not be considered a reason why operators have not got themselves together in the back office.

At the time of writing, the regulator has not yet issued their official position, and they may formally wait until the 3rd April deadline has passed before doing so.

UPDATE 9:31am

TOTSCo has revealed that they’re now entering a short period of exclusive negotiations with Tech Mahindra, to conclude a contract for the design and build of the TOTSCo Hub with associated technical and business support services.

The Hub is an essential part of the plan, but it also shows just how much work is left before OTS can be turned into a fully functional platform. “Currently we believe that the release of the Hub for industry to start their OTS testing will be within the August to October window that was previously announced,” said TOTSCo’s bulletin (that’s just for the testing phase, which could take months).

In addition, we are now expecting Ofcom to issue a statement this morning.

UPDATE 10:10am

Ofcom has just stated that they “have been closely monitoring industry’s progress in implementing the changes, and have been putting pressure on providers to meet their requirements by today’s deadline. Unfortunately, the new process has not been introduced on time. As a result, we have launched an industry-wide enforcement programme, following this failure to meet a regulatory deadline.”

The regulator added that “it is the responsibility of all providers to make sure they comply with our rules, including any changes we make to them. As in other sectors, the broadband industry – which is made up of hundreds of companies – has trade associations that help keep providers up to date with regulatory developments.” But they also admit that ISPs “are yet to give an indication of when they will be ready” to go live.

The big question now is how much slack Ofcom will give ISPs under their enforcement programme or if they’ll proceed to punishment. The regulator may blame ISPs, and technically they’re right to do so, but at the same time they do now have to deal with masses of new alternative networks that are still in the earliest stages of establishing themselves.

Put another way, today’s market is no longer dominated by just two major networks, which made it much easier for Ofcom to take a hands-off approach in the past when making major changes. Today’s market is much more complex and in that kind of environment a regulator may need to be more hands-on to get the result it wants.

UPDATE 12:20pm

A new Uswitch.com survey, which is based off an Opinium surveye of 2,000 UK adults from February 2023 to March 2023, has claimed that over 11 million people plan to change ISP in the next 12 months, but still have misplaced concerns about switching broadband – thus potentially costing £1.85 billion in overpayments – partly due to today’s delay. The top reasons broadband customers are put off switching providers include a fear of being cut off (23%), confrontational sales calls (13%) and concerns about being charged twice (12%).

However, we should point out that, in our experience, only a much smaller portion of that claimed 11 million actually do end up switching ISP each year or at the end of their current term (usually around 9-15%). The consumer ambition to switch is thus often a lot higher than the reality.

UPDATE 12:42pm

We’ve had a comment from Openreach.

Mark Shurmer, MD of Regulatory Affairs at Openreach, said:

“We agree with Ofcom this is a really important issue. For a long time customers have been able to switch easily between service providers who use our network, so it’s only fair that customers who currently use other networks should be able to upgrade to our services just as simply and easily. We’ve been ready to implement the new policy for some time now, and we look forward to industry getting these changes implemented for the benefit of consumers and businesses throughout the UK.”

UPDATE 1:40pm

A comment has come in from ISP YouFibre (Netomnia).

Jeremy Chelot, CEO of YouFibre, said:

“It’s simply not good enough that the industry has failed to deliver One Touch Switch ahead of the deadline. The migration towards One Touch Switch is a major shift and not something that could happen overnight. However, as an industry, we have had years to solve this challenge and many ISPs have worked hard to ensure that they are compliant in time.

The goal for One Touch Switch was to make it easier for customers to switch to better broadband – something that would have benefited both British consumers and the market significantly. In failing to deliver this, the industry has failed customers and stunted the progress that altnets like YouFibre have worked so hard to achieve.”