We hosted the PSTN Migration workshop with Colt at techUK's offices.
- Andy Sobryan (Colt) gave an in-depth overview of how Colt had successfully migrated their PSTN services, looking at the challenges it faced and the new opportunities the migration offered.
- Following Andy’s presentation a panel session took place, where the conversation moved to the challenges being faced by other UK providers. Juliette Scott gave an update from Openreach's perspective. There had been significant progress but still 7 million customers needed to be migrated.
- There was agreement that miscommunication in the industry continued, which was confusing for customers. The entire copper network wasn't being switched off by 2025. Different initiatives were conflating the issue and given that Government and Ofcom were not taking the lead, more work needed to be done by industry to make this clear.
- Concerns were raised about the move by certain providers persuading customers to move from WLR to MPF, and the issue around engagement with customers in business environments. There were also issues with the channel wanting to sweat existing assets that could cause issues further down the line.
- There remained a real opportunity for CCUK members in this migration
- There was agreement to reengage with other industry groups on the subject to try and improve messaging
