1.6 million people switch broadband since One Touch Switching launched

The size of the broadband switching market in the UK is now clear that we have the first years figures for the Ofcom mandated One Touch Switch process. In the 12 months since the messaging gateway launched supporting a seamless switching process between providers some 1.6 million broadband and landline customers have switched.

Broadband switching was already pretty seamless since 2015 if just switching between two retailers using the Openreach network. The massive change the One Touch Switching process created was to make switching between different networks easier e.g. migrating away from BT to an altnet like YouFibre.

“It’s never been simpler to switch, so we’re pleased that millions  of customers have taken advantage of One Touch Switch in the last year and got themselves a new deal.  

But there are still many customers who are out of contract and could be missing out on savings. So, we’re urging people to check their contract, compare the offers out there and if changing provider gives them the best deal to switch and save.“

Cristina Luna Esteban, Telecoms Policy Director for Networks and Communications, Ofcom

TOTSCo run the gateway that interlinks all the 300 different providers that support One Touch Switching, and hopefully Ofcom is chasing those providers yet to embrace One Touch Switching.

The success of TOTSCo was years in the making, and lots of behind the scenes integration work at the many difference providers, so the success while started by policy makers is really the result of many behind the scenes workers integrating the system into billing and customer management systems.

The initial matching watch is still some cause for concern as identifying the correct provider and address details can still take several goes. Matching providers being particularly difficult for long term customers who may have had their contract traded through mergers and acquisitions or fire sales. The address matching is one we also struggle with, as while there is in theory the PAF (Postcode Address File run by Royal Mail) it is expensive to use and there is no guarantee the public will supply the address in a form that matches that.