TOTSCo Confirm Cheaper UK Business Broadband ISP Switching

The not-for-profit and industry-funded One Touch Switching Company (TOTSCo), which is responsible for helping to deliver Ofcom’s solution for easier and quicker switching between UK fixed broadband and phone providers on different networks (One Touch Switching), has confirmed price reductions for their new TOTSCo Business Switching Solution.

The OTS system has been live for consumer broadband (inc. home phone) services since 12th September 2024 and TOTSCo are currently in the process of extending that to cover business connections (here). As part of this work they’ve today approved further price reductions to their Business Switching solution (Bulletin 108).

In short, the unit price for switching is reduced from £1.70 to £1.60 per business customer and there will be no charges for Communication Providers (ISPs etc.) with fewer than 20,000 customers “until live operations begin” (it’s currently a trial solution). The pricing will not change again during 2026 and TOTSCo added that they currently expect the 2027 unit price to be “no higher than £1.60” (this will be confirmed in Q3 2026).

The prices are reducing as industry participation grows. “As more providers opt in, costs are shared across a wider group of users, improving affordability for everyone,” said TOTSCo’s Bulletin. Furthermore, it’s anticipated that, from 2028, the unit price could reduce “significantly” (indicatively around 50%), reflecting the recovery of TOTSCo’s business switching development costs by the end of 2027 (to be confirmed).

The complexity of the business connectivity market means that, unlike with consumer switching, Ofcom have NOT specified what the OTS process should be for such ISPs (here). But in practice business providers are still required to follow most of the same OTS rules and so TOTSCo have modified their platform to deliver an optional biz switching solution too. However, there is no requirement for business ISPs to use TOTSCo’s solution, since business switching is deemed to be a competitive market (there may be alternatives).

Hopefully the early months go a bit smoother than they initially did for the consumer-focused switching solution, which suffered from plenty of bugs and performance issues (a few of those are still being ironed out today).