With New Mandated OTS Switching Process on the Horizon, UK Communications Providers Have Viable Managed Access Provider Option

iconectiv offers choices for providers to meet the UK’s September 2024 deadline

• What’s the News:  The One Touch Switch (OTS) deadline for the United Kingdom, set for 12 September 2024, mandates that communications providers (CPs) take specific steps to comply with OTS requirements. While this presents CPs with a unique opportunity to attract new customers through innovative services that facilitate seamless switching for UK residents, there are obstacles to navigate in reaching this goal.
• Why it Matters: As a registered Managed Access Provider with TOTSCo, iconectiv UK Limited provides UK CPs with the flexibility they need to help them meet the requirements for today’s residential broadband market.
• Who’s it for: CPs who provide broadband residential in the United Kingdom.

LONDON, UK - June 12, 2024 - In a move to ensure residents in the UK can easily switch their broadband service, telecommunications regulator Ofcom introduced new rules slated to go into effect 12 September 2024. To help streamline the updated switching process, iconectiv UK Limited today announced that it is a registered Managed Access Provider (MAP) with The One Touch Switching Company (TOTSCo), providing UK Communications Providers (CPs) with the flexibility they need to help them meet the requirements for the UK’s evolving residential broadband market.

With the UK’s upcoming One Touch Switch (OTS) deadline, CPs providing residential broadband service must undertake a series of measures to ensure compliance with the new requirements. While facilitating seamless switching for UK residents ultimately presents a unique opportunity for providers to attract new customers through their innovative services, there are also challenges to its deployment.

As part of the OTS mandate, the industry established TOTSCo as the party responsible for the development and operation of the OTS platform—the TOTSCo One Touch Switch Hub—which will carry customer service details and other required data and messages between gaining and losing CPs. As a registered MAP, iconectiv UK Limited offers Full Management and Technical MAP services options to suit a CP’s business needs. iconectiv UK Limited also has extensive expertise and history of developing, deploying, implementing and managing communications service-switching gateways on five continents, supporting nearly 5,000 customers and managing billions of transactions for governments, regulators and CPs around the world.

"As a registered MAP, iconectiv UK Limited is uniquely positioned to support UK CPs in navigating the One Touch Switch requirements,” said Peter Ford, Executive Vice President, Information Solutions Business, iconectiv. “With our proven expertise in managing service-switching gateways globally, we offer flexible solutions that ensure seamless broadband switching for residents, helping communications providers meet regulatory demands while capitalizing on new market opportunities. Our implementation and testing experience pays off—quite literally—by helping CPs avoid costly implementation overruns. Our annual fee is all-inclusive and there are no hidden fees.”

As a MAP, iconectiv UK Limited provides the critical link between the internal operations of a CP and the TOTSCo One Touch Switch Hub. iconectiv’s Managed Access Gateway platform simplifies and expedites the entire switching process by providing real-time coordination between the gaining and losing CP, empowering them to smoothly complete and respond to customer switch requests at lower cost and with fewer errors via a simple, seamless and secure web-based GUI portal or API.

For more information about iconectiv UK Limited and its MAP options, visit https://iconectiv.com/managed-access-provider