Telecommunications Adjudicator update for March 2025

At the end of March 2025, the number of unbundled lines stands at 4.71 million. There are 1.53 million WLR lines and the number of telephone numbers using CPS is 0.55 million.  *

The following is an update on the principal areas of project activity being led by OTA2.

Passive Infrastructure Access

Operational performance remains good.

Whereabouts compliance: Compliance is now at a very good level. The working group has been closed down and the ongoing performance will be monitored through the service managers regular reports.

Incident & Planned Works Management: We are continuing to monitor this area and will iterate the framework as any learning is taken.

Beyond Build: In recognition that the PIA product is entering a more operational phase we have instigated a review with the CP reps at the PIA Executive, looking at the areas which need to be enhanced to make the product more useable. After two in-depth sessions with CPs a discussion document has been developed and the next stage is to look at priority.

Areas of interest:

• Health & Safety and good working practices
• Connecting Customers

Ethernet

Performance is good.

The order profile is slightly lower compared year on year circa 4%. The workstack has dropped below 18.5k. Planning performance for KCI2 remains close to the target of 70% at 68%. If the quick win deliveries are added the outcome is 77%. Overall the delivery performance looks very good.

Areas of interest:

EAD2: Ongoing workstream developing the product proposals. The product development is progressing well and the roadmap for development beyond the initial launch is being worked through with the CPs.

Exchange Exit: Work to develop robust processes for the transfer of circuits between losing and gaining exchange sites have been completed. A methodology for providing co-ordination resources controlled by the CPs has been developed and a support function to assist CPs beyond the hand-over point if the underlying services fail to recover after cut-over has been identified. All these elements now need to be trialled and proved.

Copper and Fibre

A collaborative review of KCI2 Assure is underway between industry and Openreach. Openreach has identified its planned improvement activities, with the next step for industry to clarify and prioritise where it considers improvements would be most beneficial.

Industry engagement to review FTTP metrics has continued with CPs proposing 8 metrics for FTTP. Seven of these have been agreed with discussions on the eight paused as it relates to KCI2 Assure commitment dates, so is awaiting progress on the improvement activity detailed above. The next step is for industry and Openreach to review the agreed metrics populated with FY 20/25 data.

Openreach plan to launch ‘Business Standard’ on 01 June 2025. This introduces an approach which utilises Ordinance Survey site classifications to assign the appropriate order type between Premium and Advanced, either automatically or by ‘Sales Query’ back to a CP. The approach is selected by CPs. A separate stream of activity is also underway between industry and Openreach to improve provision orders into business sites such that CPs better understand why an engineer is unable to gain access, the precise location of ONT/NTE and the reasons for any delay on the day. It is hoped to implement these improvements as part of Business Standard, without the need for CP or Openreach systems development.  

All-IP Steering Group

Openreach deployed its UK WLR Stop Sell in September 2023 with limited exemptions, permitting orders of WLR lines in scenarios where the equivalent All-IP product or product variant were either not yet available, or not fully consumed across the supply chain. These exemptions were removed in March 2025. Industry will however be able to place WLR3 orders in exceptional circumstances to support CNI and vulnerable customers. However, Openreach plan to withdraw these exceptions during 2025 and have proposed a timetable to industry and are awaiting feedback. Openreach plan to ratchet up pressure on CPs with customers remaining on WLR through pricing, direct customer contact and other ways from January 2026.

The Prove Telecare pilot has now underway, which tests the full reversion capability to support where an Openreach engineer identifies that the telecare device is incompatible post migration to SOGEA/FTTP and allows for working service to be provided via WLR3 before leaving site. Openreach believes it remains on target for a full launch, summer 2025.

Openreach had requested CPs consider any future telecare support requirements beyond the existing Prove Telecare SVR to ensure this can be addressed in the 2025/26 financial year. Industry responded that development will be required but has yet to define any requirement.

DSIT have supplemented their previously published CP and Network Operator charters of commitments for protecting telecare and other vulnerable customers with a further charter covering CNI. It is hoped this will improve focus on this area of the WLR3 base.  

Customer Switching

The volumes of orders, messages and registered CPs using the OTS process for switching residential customers continues to steadily increase, from the initial launch in September 2024. With monthly message volumes staring to edge over 2 million, successfully processed by the TOTSCo Hub. Similarly, with completed switch orders regularly exceeding 8000 a day in the closing weeks of March 2025, the OTS process is switching residential customers in volume.

OTA2 have produced and issued, via the TOTSCo document website, an OTS Matching Best Practice Guide , which sets out to guide both gaining and losing CPs through steps that will improve the Match Success rate they can offer to their customers. It is noted that the ‘raw’ matching rate remains consistently around the 65% mark, sometimes fluctuating above or below that line. However, OTA2 have worked very closely with a number of CPs, including some of the largest, to look deeper into the performance of what we have termed the ‘Journey Match Success Rate’ which better reflects the actual experience of an end customer (both online and through an agent). This measure suggests a significantly higher positive outcome for customers who are considering switching.

OTA2 remain committed to the supporting CPs with improved performance throughout the OTS process, and regularly engage with TOTSCo and CPs to understand and address any issues being experienced in the end-to-end running of the process. This engagement takes place bi-laterally with individual CPs, and in the wider for a such at the OTS-IPG which OTA2 continue to co-host. It is encouraging that the need for engagement is lessening as confidence and competence in using OTS continues to grow and mature.

Erroneous Transfers have been an area of much discussion and concern amongst CPs, specifically instances impacting Business customers who are not part of the OTS process and have not yet been serviced through the GPLB process. OTA2 and number of leading CPs have worked on strategies and guides to address this issue and there is now a new document suite available to all CPs on the OTA2 website:

OTA2 have created a Switching and Working Line Takeover Best Practice Briefing which sets out the roles and responsibilities of both Losing and Gaining CPs in instances where an Erroneous Transfer is suspected, as well as the corresponding roles of the Gaining and Losing Supply chains. It includes recommendations and advice to prevent Erroneous Transfers from being initiated and also additional preventative steps to consider if one is successfully stopped, that can avoid re-occurrence in the future.

Industry have created the TETP (Tactical Erroneous Transfer Process), which sets out the steps a CP should take to resolve a suspected Erroneous Transfer, along with an Introduction to the process and the template for registering in the TETP Directory which forms the basis of the process. The process is now live and in use with registered CPs. New additions to the Directory can be made via the OTA2, who have agreed to support this for Industry, using the template provided and following the guidance given.

All documents can be found on the OTA2 website, under Best Practice Guidance – Consumer Switching.

OTS Porting

Industry designs and processes for OTS Porting are now stabilised and OTA2 will shortly be publishing them as updates to the existing Number Porting process and Appendix document sets. It should be noted that OTS Porting is an optional process for CPs who are able to support both the gaining and losing of NBICS through switching with a Number Port activity, with a single stage combined Port order and activation solution.

The delivery of OTS Porting into test and then live will be the challenge, led by OTA2, through the coming 25/26 financial year. It is anticipated that CPs whose Porting and Switching solutions are more ‘vertically integrated’ in nature will be the early adopters, however strong representation has been made by the wholesale community that they are also able to benefit from OTS Porting, but recognise that not all of their CP customers (Channel Partners) will be able to support or be within scope of OTS Porting, and as such require further internal developments to manage that element of a Number Port order validation. OTA2 are facilitating this work through a series of OTS Porting Wholesaler focus group sessions, which run alongside and complement the main OTS Porting group work.

The GPLB-SG (Gaining Provider Led Business - Steering Group, which is OTA2 co-chaired) have committed many 000’s of hours to the development and refinement of a baseline GPLB Switching Process and the supporting message set, which will provide Business CPs with a consistent approach to switching NBICS and IAS based services within and across networks, enabling them to meet many of the obligations placed upon them by Ofcom General Conditions for Switching. . A short introduction to GPL Business Switching has been produced as a ‘Webinar’ and can be found on the public facing website here :  Gaining Provider Led Business Switching public - FCS alongside further documents that include the proposed message set. TOTSCo have recently confirmed their commitment to offer a solution to support GPLB Switching and a number of MAPs are also actively developing solutions and proposing architectures that will facilitate access to the GPLB Switching solution for the widest range of Business CPs.  

Number Porting

Through the later part of 2024 and the first months of 2025 the OTA2 chaired NPESG (Number Porting Executive Steering Group) and NPPCG (Number Porting Process and Commercial Group), both OTA2 chaired, have met to address a variety of issues both strategic (NPESG) and operational (NPPCG). The NPESG is focused on several areas including:

• the movement to ‘All-IP’, as VoIP replaces the remaining analogue solutions, removing constraints such as DDI blocks, but raising new challenges with potential impacts on Porting costs and handling of complex porting requests.
• a strategic review of future porting opportunities in light of initiatives elsewhere (such as addressing fraudulent calls)

security, so that Porting can demonstrate strong compliance to the broader undertakings of Industry to meet Telecommunications (Security) Act requirements.

Service Levels

Copper and Fibre provision

Openreach FAD (First Available Appointment Date) performance nationally, over the 5-day period ending 31 march 2025 was as follows:

Notes:

1. MI and SI are Managed-Install and Self-Install orders
2. FTTC is Fibre to the cabinet
3. FTTP is Fibre to the premises
4. SOGEA is Single Order Generic Ethernet Access
5. GFAST is Fibre-base Ultrafast Broadband

Copper repair

LLU and WLR ‘on time repair’ performance has seen a downward trend for LLU and WLR, achieving a 4-week rolling average of 83.1% and 80.0% respectively, by week ending 28 March 2025.

*The figures quoted exclude BT downstream connections