Posts about Full-Fibre Future

The beginning of the end for copper-based telephony: what it means for you This week marks the beginning of the end for a technology that has served us well but is increasingly no longer fit for purpose – the ‘stop sell’ of traditional copper telephone lines and the services that use them. From 5 September 2023, Openreach – the BT Group subsidiary that looks after the UK’s telephony infrastructure – will no longer sell new copper telephony services, as we move towards the full retirement of the copper lines in December 2025. This blog looks at what this means for your organisation and how you might prepare for the final switch-off.

Many small businesses get internet connectivity in what might be called the “traditional” way. That means they order a public switched telephone network (PSTN) telephone line (also known as a “landline”), and then order a broadband service on top of it.

Covid-19 only accelerated what was happening already. According to one calculation, over 101,000Gb of data crisscrosses the internet every second, and that astonishing figure is only going to rise.

While it can be tempting to sign up to the first broadband contract that comes along, there are good reasons why you shouldn’t. And if your current broadband isn’t up to the task, you shouldn’t cling to it either.

In 2025 legacy ISDN and PSTN telephony networks will be switched off for good.

That’s the message from a recent blizzard of statistics. A survey by Cisco Systems found that 53% of larger organisations plan to reduce the size of their offices, and three quarters will increase flexible work options.

Organisations of all kinds were already busy implementing digital transformation policies before the COVID-19 pandemic, and they will be accelerating those processes now.

That’s certainly true with connectivity, as more and more businesses are beginning to find out.

Covid-19 only accelerated what was happening already. According to one calculation, over 101,000Gb of data criss-crosses the internet every second, and that astonishing figure is only going to rise.