Switch broadband with ‘one touch’ from September

You’ll be able to switch broadband in ‘one touch’ from 12 September, after companies agreed to a new deadline for the much-delayed service.

The One Touch Switch (OTS) scheme will make it easier to switch between services that use different cable networks, such as from BT (which uses Openreach) to Virgin Media – or vice versa.

Under the scheme, your new provider will handle every aspect of your switch, including asking your old provider for your final bill.

Telecoms regulator Ofcom initially set an April 2023 deadline for internet providers to set up a one-touch scheme.

It also called for companies to switch customers within 24 hours “where technically possible”, instead of the current 10 days.

But the One Touch Switching Company (TOTSCO, https://totsco.org.uk), which is in charge of implementing the change, said it wouldn’t be ready by then. It set a new deadline of March 2024, but said in December that it would miss this also because it hadn’t had time to test the scheme.

However, TOTSCO now believes that all providers will be able to hit the new deadline of 12 September. Ofcom says it has received written assurances from BT, Sky, Talktalk and Virgin Media that this date is achievable.

The regulator said that the continued delays by the industry “have ultimately caused customers to lose out on the benefits of a quicker and more effective switching process”.

It added that once OTS has launched it will “review the conduct” of providers to make sure they are letting customers switch quickly.