Ofcom Probes Deeper into Flaws of New UK Broadband Switching Process

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has called on major ISPs – including BT, Sky Broadband, Vodafone, TalkTalk, and Virgin Media – to provide more information in an effort to help them understand why the new consumer broadband and phone switching system (One Touch Switching) is still struggling to successfully complete many consumer migration requests.

Just to recap. The OTS service, which after many delays finally went live on 12th September 2024, was part of an effort to make it both quicker and easier for consumers to change their internet and phone provider (regardless of what network they’re on). All of this is being managed through a central messaging platform via the industry-led One Touch Switching Company (TOTSCo).

NOTE: Ofcom states that all communications providers switching a UK residential customer’s Internet Access Service and/or Number-based Interpersonal Communications Service, which is provided at a fixed location, are in scope of their OTS rules, and must follow the OTS process.

However, one of the biggest challenges of this system has flowed from the difficulty of getting the “matching process” to work properly, which exists to ensure that customer switches are correctly verified and then migrated between providers. But this process still has a tendency to fail, sometimes even when providers have entered the correct customer data, and it’s not always easy for providers to figure out why.

According to the latest switching data, the daily switch match success rate has risen slightly to average around 64% over the past week (ranging between 60% to 68% per day) and it should be noted that some failed switches will still get approved later, after corrections are made. At the end of last week TOTSCo reported that, since its launch, a total of 650,000 switch orders had been placed and 455,000 successfully completed.

Ofcom has been actively examining this problem since late last year and, as part of that, the Office of the Telecoms Adjudicator (OTA) recently conducted a review of the process and suggested some improvements (here). But this largely seemed to call on ISPs to improve their testing and implementation of the platform.

On the flip side, quite a few ISPs privately complain that TOTSCo’s system does not make testing and correcting errors as easy and transparent as it could be. Such issues may not be helped by the fact that key documentation is still stuck in a “change freeze“, which makes it difficult to get certain defects addressed (this should perhaps be unfrozen so that much-needed fixes and clarifications can be made by the process group).

The latest development is that Ofcom have put in a related information request to the market’s largest providers, which looks set to inform their next course of action under their ongoing enforcement programme.

Ofcom Statement

One Touch Switch (OTS) went live on 12 September 2024. Since then, we have been monitoring the progress of providers in taking steps to ensure that increasing numbers of consumers can benefit from OTS, in accordance with General Conditions C7.18 – C.27. While we are monitoring this progress, it is important to note that it remains industry’s responsibility to ensure compliance with their obligations, and to engage with The One Touch Switching Company (TOTSCo) as appropriate.

While OTS is working well for the majority of consumers, we have been made aware of issues affecting matching rates between providers. For a switch to be successfully processed via OTS, there needs to be a customer match from the Losing Provider to the Gaining Provider. To ensure that customers can enjoy the full benefits of easier, quicker and more reliable switching, it is crucial that customers do not experience obstructions when attempting to switch away from their current provider. Providers must therefore ensure that their OTS systems and processes function correctly on both a Gaining and Losing Provider basis.

To further understand this issue and its impact on consumers, we issued information requests on 29 January 2025 to the largest providers – BT, Sky, Vodafone, TalkTalk, and VMO2. Once we receive this information, we will begin a process of analysis and decide whether further action is necessary.

It’s important to note that the system is getting better, albeit not as fast as everybody would ideally like.

Recent Posts