Across Europe and North America, telecom providers are dismantling the infrastructure that has carried corporate voice traffic for over 100 years. The transition from analog copper networks to all-IP connectivity is accelerating. Some European markets face mandatory cutoffs in 2025, while the UK has set a strict deadline of 2027. The U.S. rollout is more fragmented, with decommissioning timelines varying by region and carrier, but the direction is clear and irreversible.
For most businesses, the instinctive response is to focus on the obvious: PBX migration, desk phone upgrades, and moving to a UCaaS platform. This is certainly a significant project, but it is also a well-understood challenge with established solution patterns. The real migration failures occur elsewhere, in inventory blind spots where analog connectivity has quietly spread far beyond traditional telephony.
For those managing the migration: Ryan Zoehner, CEO of AlgoWe argue that it is essential to recognize the full extent of sprawl.
“Organizations really need to understand that there is a misconception that powering off only affects traditional phones, landlines, landlines, and voice services.”
This awareness gap creates dangerous vulnerabilities.
While IT departments systematically work through PBX replacements and VoIP rollouts, they are often unaware of the dozens, sometimes hundreds, of different devices that rely on the same copper circuits. It’s a device that no one knows exists until the copper wires start to darken and vital equipment stops working.
Why the last 10% takes longer than the first 90%
For decades, the PSTN infrastructure has been a universal connectivity standard: a reliable, always-on network that requires minimal configuration and works well. “This is the fundamental technology foundation that underpins more than just voice,” explains Zoehner. This reliability makes it the default choice for all devices.
The problem is that this proliferation has occurred organically over many years and across organizational silos. A security contractor installed fire panels with monitoring lines in 2008. The facility added an elevator emergency phone during a 2012 building renovation. The retail operation launched payment terminals with analog back-up lines in 2015. Each decision individually made sense, but collectively it created a web of undocumented analog dependencies that most organizations cannot accurately map.
If you try line-level searching, you’ll quickly see why this is harder than you think. Carrier billing systems list line IDs and monthly charges, but rarely explain what each line is actually connected to. Telecom cost management platforms can track spending trends, but they can’t tell you whether your lines serve phone service or critical building systems. Even if field documentation exists, it is often outdated, stored across multiple systems, or archived by a third-party facilities management company. The problem is compounded in remote locations and rental properties where documentation practices may be inconsistent or non-existent.
Fragmented ownership compounds the problem exponentially. Desk phones belong to IT. Smoke alarms report health and safety. Payment terminals are managed through financial or retail operations. Building access systems fall under physical security or facilities. Emergency communications may be with the property manager or the landlord of the rental location.
No department has perfect visibility. This means that no single team can drive a complete and accurate migration.
From Discovery to Distribution: What Really Works
Organizations that successfully navigate this don’t start with a solution. They’re starting with visibility. The first step is always a comprehensive search activity that goes beyond pulling carrier invoices or checking property management databases. It requires a physical site visit, conversations with the facilities team, and a systematic inspection of all locations where analog connections may be hidden.
This work of discovery must capture not only ‘what is,’ but also ‘what it does.’ A fire alarm panel is not just a device on line 347. It is a life safety system with compliance requirements and specific response protocols. Understanding these functional requirements is essential to selecting an appropriate replacement. Some systems may tolerate brief connection interruptions. Other people can’t. These subtle differences will determine whether a simple adapter will suffice or whether the entire system will need to be replaced.
Once an organization maps its analog space, replacement patterns begin to emerge. The goal of many devices is not to upgrade the endpoint itself, but rather to switch connections on a copper network. Modern analog terminal adapters and cellular bridges make this very simple to do on compatible equipment.
“All you have to do is convert an old analog device to run on cellular. All you have to do is take out the copper wire and plug it into the box.”
explain Lathan Lewis, Product Director, Tango Networks.
This approach preserves existing devices and avoids the cost and disruption of full replacement, while moving towards connectivity that will survive the copper switch off. Fire panels still operate the same monitoring centers and elevator phones still connect to emergency services, but the route they take no longer depends on the infrastructure scheduled for decommissioning.
For organizations looking to invest in a complete IP-based replacement, the opportunity extends beyond maintaining current functionality. Modern IP endpoints integrate directly with UCaaS platforms, enabling capabilities never before available in analog systems.
“UCaaS can provide insights into call volume, response times, communication costs, and even caller sentiment.”
memo Paul Holden, Vice President of Sales, EMEA, CallTower. “Managers can use this data to make smarter decisions, optimize staffing, or identify trends in customer behavior.” What was once an isolated analog infrastructure has become part of a unified communications platform enhanced with analytics and intelligence not possible in the copper era.
Why this can’t be just an IT project
The biggest predictor of migration success isn’t technology choice. This is the organizational structure. Companies that handle PSTN shutdowns solely as an IT initiative consistently underperform those that establish cross-functional ownership from the start.
This means bringing together stakeholders who don’t typically collaborate on technology projects. IT drives the telephony infrastructure, but facilities managers control building systems. The security team performs access control themselves. Treasurer manages payment terminals. Real Estate Services handles elevators and emergency communications. Each feature contains a piece of the analog puzzle, and no one can complete it alone.
The most effective approach is to form a dedicated migration team representing each affected function. Initial workshops focus on discovery, bringing together disparate knowledge to build the first complete inventory. This is followed by on-site visits and cross-departmental engagement to ensure that nothing is missed. Prioritization requires balancing business importance, regulatory deadlines, budget constraints and technical feasibility.
This is where budget conversations become especially important. Capital expenditures for new building systems are typically outside the IT budget. Ongoing costs for cellular connectivity require financial approval. Without a coordinated budget plan, projects stall even if the technology path is clear.
Testing and validation ultimately form a critical workflow. IT can verify that IP endpoints are connected to the network, but only the facility can determine whether fire alarms are still enforcing correct evacuation procedures. These verifications often reveal integration issues that require further fixing.
Why organizational structure is more important than technology
PSTN retirements may feel like they’re meeting deadlines and being compliant, but the companies that struggle the most aren’t those with complex technology assets. They are the ones who treat this purely as an IT project. When they discovered forgotten fire panels and payment terminals, the window for strategic planning was closed.
The biggest difference between migration success and failure is organizational structure. IT cannot do this alone because the devices that need to be migrated are not reported to IT. Facility managers control building systems. The security team performs access control themselves. Treasurer manages payment terminals. Real Estate Services handles emergency communications. Each feature contains a piece of the analog puzzle, and no one can complete it alone.
Overall, organizations approaching PSTN retirement are deploying a unified IP communications platform that provides capabilities that legacy analog infrastructure could never provide. They don’t just maintain current functionality. They are allocating organizational attention and budget while modernizing their entire communications estate.
Users who delay will eventually complete the migration. Copper retirement leaves no alternative. But they will do so reactively, under deadline pressure, with much less control over outcomes and costs.