Openreach is developing an additional phone line product, which does NOT require a broadband connection to function and will be targetted at vulnerable and edge use cases (inc. CNI) users with old analogue phone lines (PSTN) who would otherwise “face challenges” in migrating to an All-IP (Internet Protocol) based solution by 2025.
At present all Openreach-based phone providers and broadband ISPs are working toward the final switch-off date for the old analogue Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), which is due to reach its conclusion by December 2025. As part of this those same providers are adopting all-IP based solutions, which tend to require some form of broadband connection in order to function (i.e. IP based phone solutions become an optional extra).
NOTE: The new product reflects a Statement of Requirement (SoR) request – ID no. 8683.
The network access provider has already launched several products to help with this transition on copper-based lines, such as SOGEA on FTTC (VDSL2) lines, SOGFAST on G.fast lines and last week’s (here) soft launch of Single Order Transitional Access Product (SOTAP) for those with the oldest ADSL based broadband lines.
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However, some eagle-eyed readers on our forum (here) have spotted that Openreach are also developing an additional twist on the SOTAP model, which is known as ‘SOTAP for Analogue‘ and appears to be a fairly significant development because you won’t need a traditional broadband connection for it to work.
What is SOTAP for Analogue?
One of the challenges with the migration away from analogue services and on to All-IP networks is that it can make life difficult for some landline-only phone customers in vulnerable and Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) groups, which is just as true in modern fibre-covered areas as it is for those in remote locations. Openreach has recognised that this will be a difficult group to transition, both technically and politically (complaints), and so they’ve come up with an alternative.
The new SOTAP for Analogue solution is a standalone product that will be available “nationally” (not just outside the All IP footprint), which means related end-users will be able to migrate to it even in areas of FTTP and SOGEA coverage. Just to be clear, the focus here is only on migrations for existing / working lines (WLR3), so consumers won’t be able to order it as a new product.
Openreach states in a recent video download (at 19:15) that this solution “provides point to point copper access between an end customer premises and the CP equipment using pre-existing LLU [Local Loop Unbundling] ties within the exchange. It is required to allow end customers who have a WLR3 only line today, to maintain a working voice only service.”
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In short, the new service is trying to replicate (or emulate) a traditional phone line – “as close as possible“, but within a modern network (i.e. the end customer shouldn’t notice any difference). This also means that these lines will be powered, just like a traditional line, which should help to support those with older telecare style devices that haven’t yet been upgraded to support digital products. But some aspects of this have yet to be confirmed via testing (it’s still a beta product).
Rental pricing will be aligned to the existing wholesale pricing for a traditional Wholesale Line Rental (WLR) product, thus those affected won’t notice much of a change, if any at all, in price. According to Openreach, BT Wholesale will offer this product to providers under the title of a ‘Pre-Digital Phone Line‘.
BT’s chosen name alludes to this as still being a transitional (temporary) product to help get vulnerable people off PSTN before December 2025. But the end goal is still to shift everybody on to an IP-based service, and BT tentatively expects that the new product may thus be needed until around 2030, albeit ultimately lasting only as long as the core SOTAP solution is actually required.
The design of the new product means that Openreach and BTW can use a bulk (mass) migration to transition PSTN lines to the new service, but consumers and ISPs will also be able to move over via an elected migration path if they want. According to the slides we’ve seen, the plan is to launch this product in September 2024, so we can probably expect a pilot to take place before that (interest from providers is currently being fielded).
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Overall, this sounds like an interesting solution to a well-known and widely publicised challenge, albeit one that will be arriving quite late to the party and so may confuse some of the pre-existing messaging that consumers have become accustomed to seeing. We’ve requested a bit more detail from Openreach, but this article covers most of what is already known and confirmed.