Telecoms in Britain is a growth priority for the UK Government. That’s not my opinion, that’s a stated fact in a new report highlighting the 15 top technologies that will drive growth, improving British society and business in the next ten years. The study claims telecoms could be worth up to £70 billion (around 0.73% of UK GDP growth). That’s great, but as I sit here, we are less than two years from the (already extended) PSTN switch-off and many organizations are panicking about how they are going to fund switching over from 150 year old technology, never mind be part of a glorious future.
Let’s start with the positive though. The report, written by PwC and called The Wider Economic Impacts of Emerging Technologies, offers timely insight into how the technologies shaping tomorrow’s economy are already influencing today’s business decisions. Among the 15 technology categories assessed, telecoms plays a unique and yet underappreciated role. It may not be seen as the flashiest innovation on the list, but its transformative potential is significant, particularly for enterprise IT leaders navigating an era of converging platforms, AI-driven customer expectations, and budget constraints.
It’s heartening to see the report acknowledging future telecoms will serve as connective tissue across all digital innovation, underpinning everything from AI applications to digital twins to immersive customer experiences. I also suspect that telecoms will contribute far more than £70 billion of UK GDP growth when you consider that telecoms enable productivity enhancements in virtually every sector, from healthcare to finance to retail.
Managing Director for EMEA at 8×8.
It’s not about more tech—it’s about better outcomes
Too often, discussions around digital transformation fall into the trap of tech for tech’s sake. Within the telecoms space, the focus must shift from individual technologies to integrated outcomes. As I’ve said before, our customers don’t care whether something is technically labelled as UCaaS, CCaaS, or CPaaS. They care about technology that solves real business problems, such as how to connect with customers more efficiently, how to make their experience more meaningful, or how to ensure regulatory compliance without adding complexity.
The future of telecoms makes those outcomes possible through capabilities such as: Ultra-reliable connectivity that supports real-time communication and zero-latency experiences. Infrastructure that’s agile enough to support AI, 5G, edge computing, and increasingly remote workforces. Integrated systems that collapse the silos between contact centers, back-office functions, and field teams.
Modernization as a mission-critical imperative
The report correctly identifies that business adoption will vary depending on cost, feasibility, and workforce readiness, but IT leaders shouldn’t see these as barriers; they’re an invitation to modernize with purpose. That’s why 8×8 continues to invest in solutions that enable seamless interaction across voice, video, chat, and APIs, all underpinned by analytics and AI.
We’ve already seen the impact of this through projects where healthcare providers are using the 8×8 platform to enable multilingual telehealth services across fragmented networks, and where financial institutions have modernized their infrastructure while remaining compliant. These are not future visions. In a lot of telecoms, we can deliver the future today.
That’s if the funding and will is there.
The real risk is standing still—or being left behind
One point in the report stood out to me: the true cost of inaction. Delayed adoption of emerging technologies leads to missed productivity gains, talent disengagement, and customer churn. For telecoms, the risk isn’t in adopting new infrastructure – it’s in clinging to legacy systems that were built for a different era, which is what brought us to the reality of the PSTN switch-off.
The report notes that 80% of those surveyed around telecoms identified cost as a major factor while 73% felt infrastructure was an issue when it came to considering upgrading. As we move towards January 2027 and, what we are promised, is the final deadline for the copper network being switched off, these are worryingly high numbers.
Another stat that is either cause for concern or an opportunity, depending on how you look at it, is that 67% of respondents felt they did not have a relevant supplier relationship to be future-proofed. That means there is massive opportunity for the UK’s tech and partnership network to be picking up the phone and building their networks.
And while 65% of those surveyed said they were unsure of the benefits of modernizing, let me tell you, the cost of doing nothing is far more expensive.
Looking forward
The report has a purpose: to inspire individuals and businesses into what could be key drivers for the UK economy over the coming years. It shows where there may be skill gaps, where businesses need to start concentrating, and seeing what their role is in the coming years. It’s a welcome report into a potential future. Still, if we don’t address the legacy of the past and properly transition to the future, as in the case of the PSTN network, then it won’t be a case of being switched off – we’ll be disconnected.
We’ve featured the best business phone system.
This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro’s Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro
