TOTSCo to reduce broadband and phone switching costs for UK ISPs in 2027

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 announced price reductions across both their Residential and Business Switching price lists for internet providers.

The OTS system has been live for consumer broadband (inc. home phone) services since 12th September 2024 and TOTSCo are currently in the final process of extending that to cover business connections. So far over 3.5 million consumers have already switched their broadband and phone provider using TOTSCo’s messaging hub in its first two years of operation.

Crucially all of this means that TOTSCo has now moved from its start-up phase into business-as-usual (BaU) operations and have thus been achieving “cost efficiencies that we are now able to pass on to users through lower prices“. In short, effective from 1st January 2027, the cost that ISPs must pay to actually switch customers via TOTSCo’s platform is set to fall.

Residential (OTS) Switching pricing: key changes

• From 1 January 2027, the unit price is reduced from £0.28 to £0.25 per residential customer.

• Unit charges for Full-Management Managed Access Providers and the tapering arrangements for smaller users are updated accordingly.

• The annual subscription fee remains unchanged, as these relate to amortised up-front and onboarding costs and some supplier costs, which are fixed

Business Switching pricing: key changes

• On 1 January 2027, the unit price is reduced from £1.60 to £1.50 per business customer.

• Unit charges for Full-Management Managed Access Providers and the tapering arrangements for smaller users are updated accordingly.

• The annual subscription fees remain unchanged, as these relate to amortised up-front and onboarding costs and some supplier costs, which are fixed.

• The existing arrangement will continue: Communication Providers will not be charged for any RCPID with a Business Customer Number of fewer than 20,000 until TOTSCo has declared that Business Switching has gone live.

The good news is that TOTSCo are already forecasting further reductions for 2028. “We are pleased that greater certainty over the ongoing costs of operating OTS, together with continued effective cost management, mean we can make earlier-than-planned price reductions,” said the latest bulletin, albeit without forecasting how big the reductions for consumer switching might be. But for business switching they expect the unit price to reduce, perhaps by between 25% and 50%, reflecting the recovery of TOTSCo’s business switching development costs by the end of 2027.

Granted these figures are fairly small and don’t reflect the overall costs that ISPs face from needing to implement supporting systems, but any reduction will always be welcomed. Changes to TOTSCo’s price lists would ordinarily be subject to consultation and 90 days’ notice, but the organisation has proposed to waive that consultation so users can benefit from the new pricing as soon as possible.