The Final Price Increase Has Arrived
As of October 2026, Openreach’s final rental cost increase for legacy PSTN and ISDN services is now in effect. This follows a series of increases throughout 2026, with wholesale rental charges rising by more than 20% in April, 40% in July and a further 40% in October.
The result is simple: many organisations are now paying around double what they were at the start of the year to maintain legacy telecommunications services.
Whilst rising costs are a concern, the October increase serves as a final warning ahead of the permanent withdrawal of PSTN and ISDN services in January 2027. With only a matter of months remaining, organisations can no longer view the PSTN switch-off as a future challenge.
Many Businesses Don’t Realise They’re Still Paying for Legacy Services
One of the biggest challenges surrounding the PSTN switch-off is that many organisations are unaware they still have PSTN and ISDN services within their telecommunications estate.
As organisations evolve, sites relocate, suppliers change and contracts renew, visibility of legacy services can gradually be lost. Services often continue running quietly in the background for years because they appear to function as expected.
The result is that organisations can find themselves paying for legacy services without realising they still exist. More concerningly, they may now be paying significantly higher costs as a result of the recent Openreach rental increases.
Before organisations can assess the impact of the switch-off, they first need to understand what services they still have, what those services support and whether they remain essential to the business. Many organisations still view the switch-off as a telephony issue, when in reality the impact extends far beyond the phone system itself.
The Biggest Risk Isn’t Your Phone System
Many organisations associate the PSTN switch-off with desk phones and traditional telephony. In reality, phone systems are often just the tip of the iceberg.
Business-critical services that may still rely on PSTN or ISDN connectivity include:
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- CCTV systems
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- Lift emergency lines
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- Intruder alarms
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- Access control systems
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- Building management systems
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- Payment terminals
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- Telecare and monitoring devices
These systems often sit outside the day-to-day visibility of IT teams and may have been operating unchanged for years.
Should these dependencies remain unidentified, organisations risk paying increased costs for ageing infrastructure whilst also exposing themselves to potential operational disruption when PSTN and ISDN services are withdrawn. Hidden dependencies can create both financial and operational risk, particularly where organisations lack visibility of the services still reliant on legacy connectivity.
Paying More for Less
As a result, organisations could now be:
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- Paying significantly higher rental charges
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- Supporting ageing infrastructure
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- Funding services nearing retirement
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- Carrying unnecessary operational risk
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- Delaying an inevitable migration project
For many organisations, the cost of maintaining legacy services is now rising faster than the value those services provide.
Migration projects are often viewed as an additional expense. However, organisations should also consider the cost of doing nothing. Continuing to fund increasingly expensive legacy services can quickly become more costly than understanding what needs to be migrated and developing a clear plan.
Many organisations are now paying double for services that are soon to become obsolete and need replacing anyway.
How Trig Point Can Help
With the January 2027 switch-off rapidly approaching, understanding your organisation’s exposure has never been more important.
Before committing to replacement services, organisations should seek independent and impartial guidance to fully understand their exposure, evaluate their options and make informed decisions based on business needs rather than vendor recommendations.
That’s why Trig Point Consulting created SORT (Switch-Off Response Team), a specialist team dedicated to helping organisations understand the impact of the switch-off and develop a clear path towards migration.
Our Approach
Respond
Review bills and identify services, systems and processes that may be at risk.
Examine
Investigate affected systems and assess their impact on business operations.
Diagnose
Provide a clear assessment of PSTN and ISDN dependencies, highlighting critical services and business risks.
Prescribe
Deliver independent, vendor-neutral recommendations and a practical roadmap for the next steps.
By the end of the assessment, organisations have a clear understanding of what services are affected, the risks they present and the actions required before the switch-off.
The Bottom Line
The final Openreach rental increase is more than another telecoms price rise. It highlights a growing challenge facing organisations still relying on legacy infrastructure.
Many businesses remain unaware of the extent to which PSTN and ISDN connectivity supports wider operations, whilst others may not even realise they are still paying for legacy services hidden within their telecommunications estate.
The organisations that act now will be best placed to reduce unnecessary expenditure, uncover hidden dependencies and develop a clear migration strategy before the January 2027 deadline.
Because the real question is no longer whether organisations need to move away from PSTN and ISDN services. It’s whether they can afford to keep paying more for services that are becoming obsolete and will need replacing anyway, without fully understanding their exposure.
Ready to Understand Your PSTN Exposure?