Posted on: 30th September 2025, by Magrathea
In order to inform their proposals for regulating the wholesale call termination market, Ofcom conducted quantitative research with SMEs and Consumers into their use of landline, mobile and online communication services (OCS) and reasons for any changes. So, we took a look at the published key findings to see how well they align to the data and client feedback we see here as a wholesale carrier.
Firstly, it’s important to say there are no surprises; the research confirms what we are all, without doubt, experiencing in our own lives and choices of services. At Magrathea we first started extolling the virtues of voice in a data driven world through our article here which reflected on Ofcom’s research back in 2019 and as you will see, the trend has continued as expected.
The research shows as consumers, in general, we love our landlines and mobiles for family calls, and for friends we favour mobile, WhatsApp and Snapchat. Facebook Messenger also features highly. Unsurprisingly, the use of video calls to keep up with family and friends has continued to increase with Zoom and FaceTime being our go-to solutions. When we dial internationally then WhatsApp is used predominantly, because it’s seen as free.
However, when it comes to speaking with businesses or making appointments things switch around somewhat. In those scenarios we prefer to use mobile or landline voice calls as our first choice to contact someone.
Research of course shows that the main driver for any choice of service is ease of use and, given the increased focus on fraud and security, it’s a bit of surprise to find that encryption and privacy of conversations and content comes further down the list of reasons to use a specific tool. Perhaps that will shift more over the next five years as consumer awareness increases
Sensibly, SMEs are adapting to clients and suppliers’ preferences, leading to widespread adoption of OCS over the last five years. For larger organisations that can mean supporting up to six different platforms while smaller businesses will have at least one OCS, with WhatsApp being the most common. Cost naturally is a big factor in deciding which tools to support and for business meetings there is obviously a wide use of conferencing platforms such as MS Teams and Zoom which can be extremely cost effective
What does this all mean? Well it’s really not a shock that OCS play a greater part in our everyday communications and it is likely to continue to increase further over the next five years, but the research also shows that there is still a strong demand for fixed and mobile voice options when it comes to dealing with the critical and important stuff in our lives, including talking with family and friends.
As a voice specialist, the team here at Magrathea are confident that voice will continue to be an important part of how we communicate in the years ahead and if anything, the need to get it right becomes even more important with the focus being on those essential and critical calls.
As skills are stretched across so many potential tools, and with training and knowledge shifting focus to data and connectivity, there is the risk that the unique and specific know-how to build telco solutions to serve future demand will diminish. This latest Ofcom research, backed up by our own findings, demonstrates how vital the voice sector continues to be, and topics like security, resilience and interoperability remain top of the industry agenda.
And with that in mind, as OCS expands and voice remains essential, the industry needs regulation that balances consumer protection with supporting innovation, whilst ensuring resilience and security. At Magrathea we remain committed to supporting that balance, working closely with our clients and industry partners to make sure that the value of voice is not only preserved but strengthened for the future.