The cost of switching broadband providers in the UK is coming down
Key Points
- TOTSCo cuts residential switching fee from 28p to 25p from 1 January 2027
- Business switching fee falls from £1.60 to £1.50 on the same date
- Annual subscription fees for providers stay unchanged
- Business switching prices could fall by 25% to 50% from 2028
- Providers have until 1 November to object to the shortened notice period
TOTSCo will cut its One Touch Switch fee from 28p to 25p per residential customer on 1 January 2027.
The not-for-profit body, which runs the UK’s One Touch Switch system for broadband and landline switching, announced the cuts in a bulletin on Tuesday (27 October).
One Touch Switch lets customers move their broadband and landline services by contacting only their new provider, which then handles the switch.
Communication providers pay TOTSCo a unit charge per customer to use the system, alongside an annual subscription fee.
TOTSCo said it achieved cost efficiencies after moving from its start-up phase into business-as-usual operations, and that it would pass these on to users through lower prices.
The firm will also cut its business switching unit price from £1.60 to £1.50 per business customer on the same date.
Annual subscription fees for both services will stay the same, as they cover fixed up-front, onboarding and supplier costs.
Providers with fewer than 20,000 business customers will continue to pay nothing for business switching until TOTSCo declares the service live.
TOTSCo previously said it expected to reduce real-terms pricing in 2028, but greater certainty over its running costs allowed it to bring the cuts forward.
“As a not-for-profit organisation, TOTSCo is committed to passing the benefits of efficiencies and cost savings on to its users wherever possible,” said TOTSCo.
Further cuts possible in 2028
TOTSCo will decide its 2028 residential switching prices in the third quarter of 2027. It will pay off the loan that funded its initial work, including system development, in October 2027.
The firm said this may leave room for a further reduction, depending on inflation and any changes to its scope, though it could not make firm commitments.
TOTSCo expects its business switching unit price to fall by between 25% and 50% from 2028, once it recovers its development costs by the end of 2027.
It said this outlook is for guidance only and non-binding.
Under TOTSCo’s agreements with providers, price list changes would ordinarily require consultation and 90 days’ notice.
TOTSCo proposed waiving consultation and shortening the notice period to bring in the lower prices from 1 January, and asked any provider that objects to contact it by 1 November.
