Transform Your Global Network from PSTN to IP Today & Dramatically Improve Flexibility, Quality, & Economics in our Hyper-Connected World

We all knew the day would come when the aging analogue Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) would reach the end of life, but when the industry discussion began to emerge over the last few decades, we also knew this massive, global transformation to fully digital services including VoIP would take time.

What’s happening today?

Companies like BT have already announced a full transformation, with every consumer and business phone line made digital, routing calls over IP, by 2025, five years ahead of the predicted switch-off date for the rest of the world by 2030.

All services currently connected to PSTN or ISDN lines, including alarms, key systems, CCTV, and fax machines, will no longer work in a mere three years, and while other countries and network operators have a longer timeline before we know it – 2030 will be here.

Yesterday at the Channel Partner Conference and Expo in Las Vegas, we introduced our PSTN Digitization offering, with coverage today in 36 of the world’s largest countries, with more countries to follow.

The PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) is the network of the world’s public circuit-switched telephone networks. In short, this is what allows any telephone in the world to communicate with any other telephone. ConnX fully featured telephony services are now available in countries that account for 78% of the world’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The services provided include local dial tone, local numbers, local number porting, domestic calling, local toll-free, local emergency services, and Lawful Intercept. Furthermore, ConnX offers Inbound DID services in 87 countries and Toll-free services in 105 countries that represent almost 90% of global GDP.

International coverage requires a tremendous amount of planning, financial commitment, government compliance, and reporting to become licensed in-country for proper sourcing of two-way PSTN replacement services. We are committed to covering 85% to +90% of global GDP countries by the end of this year,?building on decades of relationships and experience in providing high-quality, reliable communications and collaboration services to the most demanding Fortune 500 enterprises.

This process of decommissioning the global PSTN has been underway since 2017 and is beginning to affect existing services. While the changeover is voluntary at present, it will ultimately become mandatory for both home and business consumers. In some countries, telecoms providers aim to cease PSTN services very soon. For example, it has been announced that PSTN services will cease in the UK by the end of 2025. Globally, the target switch-off is by 2030.

While the switch to digital means significant changes, the benefits outweigh the investment. Digital vs. analog means easier operations, better customer experiences, improved business resilience, faster response time, and clearer audio quality.

While the switch-off deadline still feels far away, for businesses, failing to prepare is preparing to fail. Organizations are already increasingly looking for a device or application that is going to be able to replace PSTN, and our offering is modernization in the form of cloud-based services.

VoIP is now an extremely mature and proven technology, and coupled with the imminent PSTN switch-off, is enabling a mass migration towards cloud-based services – telco cloud services. For example, cloud-based VoIP services allow businesses to make calls from anywhere and include additional features to integrate key Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) business tools with the telephony system.

VoIP can greatly improve a company’s speed, as cloud-based services also depend on the fastest speeds the internet can provide. As we move into a world of 5G, which we know is 20 times faster than 4G, 5G will enable VoIP to offer organizations communication speeds faster than ever before – timing is perfect – but time is also running out.

We have worked for years to develop our global voice network, collaborating with network operators and industry associations. The great news following the great migration is the many benefits VoIP brings with it, as well as the modernization of global infrastructure to carry the calls over IP – this means greater access to the Internet for all, as we continue to do our best to narrow the digital divide.

Please contact me to learn more about this elegant glide path – which is one important part of the digital transformation of all enterprise connectivity and communications platforms, one which is part of our broader offering, orchestrated by our Maestro platform.