Ofcom Confirm Plan to Retire Old UK Broadband ISP Switching System

The UK media and telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today published a new letter that they recently sent to broadband and phone providers. The letter confirms their intention to decommission the old consumer ISP switching system (NoT+) on 24th October this week in favour of their new One Touch Switching (OTS) system, which is said to be “working well“.

In case anybody has forgotten, OTS, which aims to make it both quicker and easier for consumers to switch between broadband and phone providers (even on physically separate UK networks), was finally introduced on 12th September 2024 after significant implementation delays (it was originally supposed to launch on 3rd April 2023).

However, the launch also recognised that the centralised messaging platform for OTS, which was being implemented by the industry-led One Touch Switching Company (TOTSCo), still needed to improve the success rate of its “matching process” (i.e. ensuring that customer switches are correctly verified and migrated between providers). In response, Ofcom opted to temporarily retain the old NoT+ migration process (Notification of Transfer) – until 24th October 2024 – to act as a fallback for OTS failures.

The ISPs we speak with tell us that TOTSCo’s messaging platform and support is still far from perfect (stronger words are often used), although recent updates have shown a marked improvement since it went live (here). The new letter, which was published today but formally issued on 11th October 2024, acknowledges that “there remain some issues with matching of customer details across providers“, but it also says the “system overall is working well for the vast majority of customers“. As a result, Ofcom is not planning to retain NoT+ past this week’s deadline.

Ofcom’s Letter to Comms Providers – 11th Oct 2024

Full implementation of One Touch Switch

I am writing to update you on Ofcom’s position regarding the use of the enhanced Notification of Transfer (NoT+) functionality in light of One Touch Switch (OTS) going live on 12 September 2024.

In my letter of 4 September 2024 I explained that we considered it would be appropriate to retain the existing NoT+ functionality for a limited period of six-weeks beyond 12 September 2024. I have now written to Openreach, KCOM and wholesalers who operate NoT+ to confirm that NoT+ should be decommissioned on 24 October as planned.

During this exceptional six week transition period, OTS is the switching process to use for all switches and providers are only allowed to consider using the back-up NoT+ process when it is not technically possible to proceed with the switch through OTS. While there remain some issues with matching of customer details across providers, the OTS system overall is working well for the vast majority of customers looking to switch their broadband and landline services. Removing NoT+ also enables faster, easier switching for customers and treats customers switching across networks equally.

Since 3 April 2023, OTS is the only switching process for residential customers switching fixed services which is compliant with Ofcom’s General Conditions. NoT+ was in place on an exceptional basis as an interim measure until OTS was fully implemented. We expect all communications providers in scope of OTS to ensure full compliance with our switching rules going forwards. As previously announced, our ongoing enforcement programme will review the conduct of all industry participants since our statement in 2021. It will now also closely monitor compliance with our General Conditions in order to determine whether it is appropriate to open investigations into individual providers.

As you may be aware I have asked the Office of the Telecommunications Adjudicator to work closely with industry to improve the OTS matching success rate and we expect that work to continue, as well as your full cooperation with the OTA2.

Yours sincerely,

Cristina Luna-Esteban – Director, Telecoms Policy
Ian Strawhorne – Director, Enforcement

In short, the regulator isn’t giving ISPs any additional chances to get things right.