Openreach Says No BIG BANG in Jan 2027 When UK Analogue Phones Switch-Off
The Senior Manager for All IP Migrations and Exchange Exit at Openreach, Juliette Scott, has revealed in a new interview that 1.9 million UK lines are yet to switch to a digital alternative ahead of the closure of the old analogue phone (PSTN / WLR) service in early 2027. But for consumers who fail to switch in time, there “won’t be a big bang on 1st February 2027“.
Just to recap. The legacy phone switch-off was previously delayed to 31st January 2027 in order to give broadband ISPs, phone, telecare providers, councils and consumers more time to adapt (details). The main focus of this was on the UK people who use vital home telecare systems (e.g. elderly, disabled – vulnerable users), which aren’t always compatible with newer IP-based digital phone services (telecare providers were slow to adapt).
In most cases such upgrades merely involve a fairly seamless change of service by your broadband or phone provider, which often results in customers needing to connect their home phone into the back of either a broadband router or Analogue Terminal Adapter (ATA); instead of directly into the socket on your wall or skirting board (NTE5 sockets). Special solutions also exist for telecare users.
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However, in total there are around 1.9m UK lines left on the old phone WLR network that still need to be migrated across all providers (down from c.2.5m in April 2026), with a few hundred thousand of those serving business premises. Openreach has also previously stated that prices for these legacy lines are set to double by October 2026 (details), which is a strong incentive for both ISPs and customers not to leave upgrading until the last minute.
The main development today, as well as a progress update on the PSTN/WLR closure programme, is that the CEO of broadband ISP Zen Internet, Richard Tang, has just conducted one of the best and most informative interviews that we’ve seen done on the subject with Openreach’s Juliette Scott. The interview goes into a lot of detail and is well worth watching in full, and we’ve summarised some of the most interesting points below.
Key Points from Zen’s Openreach Interview
➤ The 31st January 2027 date isn’t going to be delayed again. Juliette said the country is “at the tipping point … [where] it’s more concerning to be on [the old network] than to move to something else, in terms of its fragility“.
➤ The PSTN is “falling to bits … and you can’t get spares“, said the former CEO of Openreach, Clive Selley, to Zen Internet in the recent past. In short, the network has to be replaced and, as Juliette points out, the “last bit [of line switching] is the hardest because it tends to be the customers who don’t want to move or who have more niche products on the end of it“.
➤ The switch-off programme started with over 16 million WLR lines needing migration and is now down to 1.9 million left to switch. Zen itself has 18,000 lines left to move (direct and partners), which is down from c.100,000 when they started the process. Juliette said Zen are “absolutely are on track to get to zero by January 2027” (most providers are on a similar track).
➤ Openreach revealed that the old PSTN network, somewhat surprisingly perhaps, still accounts for a staggering 1% of British energy usage.
➤ Openreach “would love it to be at” at zero lines come 31st January, but reality suggests this is “unlikely” and some will be left (probably in the high tens of thousands). Richard expects a “long tail of more difficult or disengaged customers to switch off“.
➤ Richard welcomed Openreach’s move to double the price of its related legacy copper line products because it “made a difference” and encouraged their partners to take it more seriously. Some providers had previously been slow to move, partly because Richard said they were “still making good margins” with the old products.
Openreach have meanwhile been cutting the price of modern alternatives (e.g. full fibre FTTP and copper-based SOGEA solutions) and making it as easy for providers to switch customers as possible.
➤ Juliette makes clear there “won’t be a big bang on 1st February 2027, but in time after that we will start to look at [those who might be left]“. Such lines will be assessed and where “we have capacity they will be moved on to a product called EVAc” (Emergency Voice Access).
We’ve covered EVAc before (here), which is essentially a less feature rich variant of the Pre-Digital Phone Line product from BT (PDPL / SOTAP Analogue) – this existed before, but PDPL is no longer available “so you can’t sign-up for it“. The PDPL service offered a similar service to the old WLR/PSTN one.
EVAc is thus a last-ditch solution to keep consumers connected if they’ve failed to move by the deadline, but it only works as a very basic phone service. Customers who have broadband on top of their WLR will “lose that” as EVAc doesn’t support it. Juliette warned it’s harder to get people off EVAc, so it’s something they’ll try to avoid unless absolutely necessary.
Take note that PDPL was always envisaged as temporary product, which would likely end up being phased out once Openreach started closing around 4,600 of their legacy UK exchanges (here) – mostly after 2030. We assume that this same caveat will apply to EVAc, since it’s based off PDPL.
➤ A key warning exists for business lines, since they won’t benefit from the same protections as consumer services. As we’ve pointed out before, and Juliette reiterates again, customers with old ISDN2 and ISDN30 data lines, for example, “don’t have a path … so from 1st February they will be ceased“.
➤ Fully unbundled (MPF) lines will continue past January 2027 (i.e. ISPs that have installed their kit in exchanges), but its lifespan depends on the providers who still support this (they’ll also want to switch customers away before exchanges start closing on mass from 2030 and because the equipment is very old).
Juliette said such MPF lines are “not part of this programme, so [using them] is still an option [for providers like TalkTalk and Sky Broadband etc.]“. But Openreach added that they won’t sell MPF anymore in areas where 75%+ of premises now have full fibre coverage (FTTP Priority Exchange Programme) – FTTP will be the only option for new lines.
So Openreach aren’t going to switch off MPF for existing customers. But inevitably it will die a slow death as hardware gets old and replacement becomes problematic. In practice, many providers with MPF lines are trying just as hard to get customers off them and on to newer services.
➤ Richard said the free battery back-up unit that Zen provide to vulnerable customers lasts about 8 hours (powers your router and ONT for those on FTTP), before pointing out that most power cuts don’t last that long “that’s about the best we can do” (past a certain point BBU’s would become far too expensive to be offered for free). Battery units are needed because, unlike old PSTN phone services, the line will completely stop working if your house suffers a power cut (older copper lines were powered from the exchange).
Broadly speaking the message is the reverse of the old saying: “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it“. Instead, the message is that the PSTN is broken, and you DO need to fix it before the deadline. The full interview goes into lots more detail and also crossed into the exchange closure plans, as well as Zen’s own position. We highly recommend watching it, even though it is about an hour long.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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Just watched it & it’s well worth a watch. Openreach simply can’t afford to delay anymore, if they did the whole thing would lose any credibility and encourage customers to foot drag even more. I just wonder how of these remaining lines are actually being used and not just things like old fax lines that customers have forgot to cancel & and are still paying for.
Everyone I know with a phone service don’t even have a phone plugged in, its just something they had to have for the internet.
Phone lines with associated broadband service won’t get migrated to PDPL anyway. It is strictly for phone-only customers.
In BT/EE’s world, broadband customers would be given a switchover date for digital voice and an option to give up the phone service entirely if they don’t need it. Vulnerable customers will get a battery backup on request.
Just do it, so many delays I am sure some users are convinced it is not going up happen and the longer it takes, more luddite resistance crops up
The PSTN closure has only been delayed once, and Openreach have repeatedly stated that there will be no further delays.
It is specifically talked about in the video, and they mention that it was pushed back as the government ordered a pause due to another provider failing to look after vulnerable customers, which sadly led to several deaths.
I know a number of these people! But I won’t name them as I have to work with them!
Almost no Mention of SOTAP… Are they to embarrassed to admit they’ve massively failed those customers…
Elaborate please. Have there been problems with SOTAP beyond what was expected given Openreach made clear it’s a transitional best efforts product? They talk about PDPL, BT Wholesale’s product based on SOTAP. Richard presumably doesn’t ask about it because basically no-one is consuming it besides through BT Wholesale. Sky, TalkTalk, Vodafone if they needed to would consume MPF.
I’ve heard nothing. Given EVAc is using the same kit as SOTAP but with a configuration I’m not sure what you’re talking about so would be interested to hear about it.
SOTAP is essentially the Same as SoGEA but whereas SOGEA is copper to the cabinet SOTAP is all the way back to the exchange meaning for most (as properties near the exchange will likely have been upgraded to SOGEA) the speed will be very poor e.g. 3-4 Mbs so basically capable of supporting VOIP but not really good enough to support much else.
I’d love to be able to upgrade to a decent product but Openreach have hung us out to dry.
SOGEA and SoTAP are very different services. Just as FTTC and ADSL are.
Your complaint has nothing at all to do with this story, which is about the closure of the legacy voice network. You’re complaining because you had a slow ADSL line (with phone service), but now you will have a slow ADSL line (without phone service).
3 or 4Mbit is perfectly fine for basic needs including a VoIP service, however it would not be USO compliant which mandates 10Mbps minimum. Have you raised a request with BT (sic – not Openreach)?
Ivor, Yes your entirely correct I’m bitter being stuck on ADSL. We’ve been in & out of scope since we moved into our property in 2012 but every time they survey our road it’s deemed not commercially viable (Due to the fact we live next to the A1 so running cables under it would invoke a charge of well over £20k last time I had figures & probably significantly more now) Despite declaring us “No longer in scope” Openreach failed to declare our road across multiple Open Market reviews meaning we missed out of several rounds of Government funding under the previous Rural Broadband Scheme. Most recently they’ve been upgrading our exchange again as part of their gigabit rollout & quelle surprise we’ve been declared not viable again so now our date has been pushed back to 2030. We have tried the USO route but just got sold BT 4G broadband which at the time was capped at 100Gb so we were forced to pay about £80 p/m for truly unlimited broadband which is just blatantly BT profiteering from the USO. We eventually cancelled out contract as it was discovered that BT had switched their USO offering to Cap speed instead of Data & while still USO compliant it was now capped at 20Mbs. Thankfully in capping the service without informing us BT breached their contract so we were able to exit contract early. We now have Starlink which does a great job. But we’re still paying nearly double what anyone else would have to pay for a similar level of service from a fixed line ISP.
For us we’ve been promised the world by openreach, project gigabit & the USO but all have failed to deliver. On average we pay £30 a month more than a similar contract for a fixed line. Over the 14 years we’ve been waiting that’s over £5k. Take into account there were assuming the 134,000 properties affected at the start of project gigabit also have the same additional cost that’s over well over £0.5 Billion that customers in our position have had to fork out because Openreach haven’t upgraded the network.
So yes I’m exceedingly unhappy with Openreach.
Openreach would make less than £10 a month more on you than if you were on copper, £120 a year, £1,200 a decade. Spending tens of thousands on likely impact moling under a major road isn’t going to be an easy sell. Even government programmes are likely to exclude you for now due to the extreme cost and small quantity of premises uplifted.
You are literally right at the end of the tail and there was no real way of knowing until they’d fully assessed the infrastructure sadly.
So BT are in full compliance with their regulatory obligations then. The USO entitles you to a 10Mbps service, you were given a 20Mbps service. Not seeing the problem. Were you given an FTTP offer at all, even with a hefty contribution from yourself?
BT (retail) are definitely not profiting from the USO. Almost all USO outcomes lead to an expensive FTTP build. Thousands of pounds spent to return a much smaller revenue and in two years’ time the customer can move to any Openreach ISP anyway.
You cannot assume any property not yet served by FTTP is in your boat. I don’t know where the 134k comes from. My parents’ place is still waiting for FTTP too, but they have FTTC today, which provides a decent enough service at a reasonable price. Their location was due to be served by an altnet under project gigabit but they’ve been dumped and it’s now up to OR to lead the way.
Anyway, all of the above is irrelevant to this news article, which is strictly about voice migrations…
Hi we are pensioners living in an old council bungalow with a phone connection that only goes to the exchange and have been informed that our address will not be able to get full broadband until 2028, atm we use the Internet via our landlines with a wonderful speed of around 10mgb, as you can imagine we were looking forward to faster speeds only to be told in writing from BT that won’t happen in time and having been in touch with Virgin they are not interested in our little street, what can we do about it, hope someone will shed some light on the problem please.
Yours hopefully Robert Vickers
10 meg is enough for 9+ ISDN30 lines which would support 270 concurrent calls, there’s no reason why your existing broadband couldn’t support a single voice line.
The issue is that SoTAP (ADSL without the traditional voice service) hasn’t been a priority as most can get FTTP or FTTC
IMHO o e if the worst mistakes Openreach has made us to allow the conflation of FTTP rollout with PSTN switch off
You are on an exchange only (EO) line and will never get faster broadband on it. If no provider installs fibre in your area and you want faster speeds, you can look for a 4G/5G router which converts a mobile signal to a Wi-Fi hotspot. Also, in some areas Vodafone offers 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) where their 5G network has enough spare capacity.
Go with starlink
This final switchoff date of the BT PSTN Exchanges, should have been linked to, the full replacement of BT Copper lines to FTTP. Plucking arbitrary dates from thin air seems bizarre. Apart from anything, this Digital switchover is confusing people, giving people the false impression that BT have finished their National FTTP upgrade program. When in fact, this PSTN Digital switch over, will be running for decades to come on, BT’s creaking copper network, in many parts of the country. Far better to link the date, to when, all Copper final mile llines haave been replaced…
One reason for this is that the exchange equipment is obsolete and difficult to maintain.
Fair, on condition you get to explain to people why their landlines are breaking as Openreach can’t source the parts to keep the PSTN going as no-one makes them anymore and hasn’t for years. Deal?
It’s not Openreach’s responsibility to provide voice service, that’s down to the individual ISPs and most of them have stepped up. A VoIP service with higher quality than PSTN is 64-128 kbit/s and a line that can’t manage that isn’t going to be much use for anything.
It’s up to ISPs / CPs to educate their customers.
It’s worth mentioning that sale of WLR was stopped in 2023 and the plan to switch it off in 2025 was announced in 2018. Sky have been installing digital voice since at least 2021, both FTTP and FTTC, and they weren’t even using WLR for the vast majority of their customers, BT have been testing it since the Openreach announcement and started their en masse migration in 2023.
I can’t see that many people being confused. Also lost where you think ‘many parts of the country’ are on either full or partial copper so would be impacted by this with no other options. Full fibre coverage is at nearly 85%, partial/full fibre nearly 99.5%.
600,000 of 2.5 million lines were moved in the last 2 months. Expecting WLR to still run nationwide as it does now for the sake of 1-200,000 lines out of 33 million, based on how quickly lines started getting moving as price increased loomed and some ISPs pulled their finger out, doesn’t really make much sense.
The point of PDPL/EVAC is to be a seamless switchover to the end user. It is also intended for use cases where power resiliency is a concern. Both of those are reasons why it is a “creaking” copper product and intended only for a small number of users. Everyone else is still expected to move to all-IP products delivered over FTTC or FTTP.
Therefore PSTN closure and exchange building closure are not linked to the FTTP rollout, never have been, and should not be.
No. That would be crazy. The PSTN is life expired. Copper will be around in the last half mile for a decade or more.
If the PSTN isn’t shut down now in a controlled fashion it will do it all by itself, catastrophically. The newest exchange in the network is 30 years old. One of the manufacturers no longer exists, the other had a last time buy on spare parts 15 years ago. The UK is years behind other countries on PSTN shutdown. In every one of those countries PSTN closure happened before copper closure and no-one seems to have been left confused by that.
This isn’t being done on a whim.
It’s highly unlikely there’ll be any “copper final mile” lines, on “BT’s creaking copper network”, decades from now. If there is any copper access remaining 10 years from now, which I very much doubt, it’ll likely be for exceptional reasons and will cost the end user a lot in rental charges.
Openreach/BT are forecast to pass 25 million premises, with Fibre, by the end of this year and 30 million by 2030. Why would any end user use inferior copper services rather than fibre or 5G, both of which could easily replace and exceed the performance of any copper based services.
We would love to switch over but bt won’t give a date as to when this will happen at our address.
You can do it now. This isn’t about full fibre.
PTSN using 1% of UK energy is difficult to believe, even assuming they mean 1% of domestic electric consumption.
The claim that PSTN uses 1% of UK energy does seem a bit high. A quick calculation using some UK electricity figures from Google, and dividing it by the number of telephone exchanges gives an average power consumption of 55KW per exchange. A large trunk exchange I could possibly believe, but many are tiny and will use much less than that.
If by PSTN they also include all the PBXs in all the companies in the UK, then I can imagine that 1% is possible.
However, eliminating PSTN won’t save all that power as the alternative VoIP systems use power too.
Maybe they should use all that money they’ve been given to actually get everyone fibre like they said rather than pay the big useless bosses.
They bill the government after the BDUK work is done, they aren’t paid in advance. If you think they are defrauding the taxpayer and have evidence go to the police.
What money is that? Network providers were asked to bid to provide coverage to specific areas to receive funding for the work. The money was only paid after the work was completed. Councils choose which properties those are.
What a weird rant.
So I’m in an area that’s supposed to be upgraded in the next 6 months “by December 2026”. I don’t believe this will be the case since OR have visited the area and bypassed almost 2/3rds despite being one of the most deprived areas in the UK and despite being in London. It’s actually quite shameful.
There’s a lot of Direct in Ground stuff in London. It costs the same or more to remedy those as it does elsewhere due to congested pavements and permitting issues.
If bits of London aren’t getting done it’s London being treated the same as everywhere else as far as the commercial case goes. Cost versus return, that it’s in London irrelevant besides what it does to the costs.
You don’t need to move to FTTP to move to Digital Voice. They are different things.
Except we’ve got some streets with poles and others properly ducted and some of the ducts and some of the poles have been done but not anywhere close to all.
One of the ducted streets that haven’t been done actually has the main aggregation node (!)
Anyone know what Talktalk/OR is doing with their ‘vulnerable’ POTS only customers or any timescale?
TalkTalk do not use the Openreach PSTN, so they are not subject to this deadline. Exchange closure is the big one but that won’t be for a few years yet, and it equally affects anyone BT moves to PDPL or Openreach moves to EVAC.
(at least in 99.999999% of cases – maybe there are still some people on WLR from when that might have been offered by TalkTalk as an “off net” product)
@Ivor
Thanks, one less thing to worry about for now.
Rather dissapointed to listen to the Zen man as they are not at all interested in moving my 2 accounts to SOGEA service despite requesting this. In the end by threatening to jump I got one line switched but my disabled daughter is left waiting and Zen’s priority register is a joke.
I don’t know how they are so popular, certainly not in my household