The full fibre rollout is going full steam ahead, with Virgin Media O2 recently announcing that it will deploy full fibre across its network by 2028.
We’ve already covered what the switch off of the public switched telephone network (PSTN) will mean for businesses, but what many don’t realise is that it’s better to start preparing soon.
What is stop sell?
2025, the deadline for the PSTN switch off, might seem like a while away. However, some areas will be affected by the network’s closure before this date.
Stop sell is a term coined by Openreach to describe an area where it has stopped the sale of its products. However, stop sell is not the same as a complete product withdrawal as any customer within a stop sell area can continue to use the product, until it is eventually withdrawn.
Salisbury, for example, has been in a PSTN stop sell since December 2020. That means that businesses in the area are already unable to purchase any wholesale line rental (WLR) products, like analogue phone lines, nor can they add any new lines to their existing networks.
However, Salisbury hasn’t been left in the dark. Already, over 22,000 businesses and new homes are enjoying the benefits of a full fibre rollout.
What do I do?
Don’t worry — Openreach won’t be cutting off your phone lines just yet! However, a UK-wide restriction of WLR products will follow in September 2023. So it’s time to start taking a leaf out of Salisbury’s book.
Businesses will need to consider other communication technologies that replace the PSTN, such as SIP Trunking or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) solutions.
If you’re in a stop sell area, or if you’d like to prepare in advance, Crystaline can help. Our team can recommend the best communications solutions for your business, whether it requires a single VoIP application on a computer or a complex unified communications implementation that works across an entire office’s handsets, desktops and mobiles.