Openreach Add 65 More UK Exchanges to Copper Phone to Fibre Switch – Tranche 9
Openreach (BT) has published the Tranche 9 batch of 65 new UK exchange areas where they plan to move away from copper-based analogue phone (PSTN / WLR etc.) services and on to a new all-IP network, which will also occur once over 75% of premises in an area can get their “ultrafast broadband” (FTTP and G.fast at 300Mbps+).
At present there are two different, albeit closely related, stages to moving away from the old copper line infrastructure. The first starts with the gradual migration of traditional voice (PSTN) services to all-IP technologies (e.g. SOGEA), which is due to complete by December 2025 and is occurring on copper line products (i.e. copper and full fibre ISPs are both introducing digital VoIP style voice solutions for customers).
The second stage involves the ongoing rollout of faster Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband infrastructure – using light signals via optical fibre, instead of slower electrical signals via copper. Only after this second stage has largely completed in an exchange area can you really start to switch-off copper in favour of fibre, which is a longer process as you have to allow a few years for user migration.
The process for fully moving from copper to “fibre” begins once 75% of premises in an exchange are able to receive ultrafast connectivity. We note that hybrid fibre G.fast coverage also counts for this, but its impact will be small (the rollout stopped at 2.83 million premises) and is only relevant where speeds of 300Mbps+ are achievable.
Between the full fibre rollout and the gradual switch away from copper lines, this process will take several years in each area to complete, and the pace will vary from place to place (i.e. some areas will have better fibre coverage than others).
The Next 65 Exchange Locations (Tranche 9)
The migration process away from the legacy services usually starts with a “no move back” (i.e. no going back to copper) policy for premises connected with FTTP, which is followed by a “stop-sell” of copper services to new customers (12-months notice is given before this starts and that’s what today’s list represents).
The above stage is then followed by a final “withdrawal” phase. At present, Openreach are already preparing to fully shut down and withdraw older analogue products in two trial areas – Salisbury and Mildenhall – and they’ve notified ISPs that these products will be withdrawn in Spring 2023. But many will follow, including those in today’s list, albeit not for a while.
The 65 exchanges announced today takes the total number of notified exchange upgrades that have already been notified as part of the aforementioned process (including trial exchanges) to 651. The “stop sell” in these areas will be introduced from 8th August 2023.
The operator has also added a Stop Sells Page to their website, which makes it easy to see all of these changes. Remember, the following list is tentative, so changes and delays do sometimes occur.
65 Stop Sell Exchanges in Tranche 9
| Exchange | Location | Exchange Code |
| Chapel Brampton | Northampton (Northamptonshire) | EMCHAPE |
| Peopleton | Pershore | WMPEO |
| St Johns | Worcester | WMSTJ |
| Exhall | Coventry | CMEXH |
| Roade | Roade | EMRDDEE |
| Bagshot | Bagshot | THBA |
| Ranmoor | Sheffield | SLRN |
| Reading Earley | Reading | THEAR |
| Hednesford | Cannock | CMHED |
| Bradwell On Sea | Bradwell on Sea | EABRD |
| Chafford | Grays | EACHF |
| Goldhanger | Goldhanger | EAGOL |
| Harwich | Harwich | EAHWH |
| Little Clacton | Little Clacton | EALIT |
| Manton | Manton | EMMNTON |
| Plumtree | Keyworth | EMPLUMT |
| Burntisland | Burntisland | ESBUR |
| Kirkton Manor | Peebles | ESKKM |
| Monifieth | Monifieth | ESMNF |
| Newmills | Cairneyhill | ESNML |
| Arnside | Arnside | LCASD |
| Heywood | Greater Manchester – Rochdale | LCHEW |
| Nelson | Nelson (Pendle) | LCNEL |
| Erith | Greater London – Bexley | LSERI |
| Arrowebrook | Birkenhead | LVARR |
| Hale | Liverpool | LVHAL |
| Penketh | Warrington | LVPEN |
| Rainford | Rainford | LVRAI |
| Twickenham | Greater London – Richmond upon Thames | LWTWI |
| Heaton Moor | Greater Manchester – Stockport | MRHEA |
| Ringway | Greater Manchester – Trafford | MRRIN |
| Bridlington | Bridlington | MYBNN |
| Ramsgill Dale Uax13 | Glasshouses | MYRAM |
| Starbeck | Harrogate | MYSRB |
| Steeton | Silsden | MYSTE |
| Collier Street | Collier Street | NDCST |
| Herne Bay | Herne Bay | NDHBA |
| Hoo | Rochester | NDHOO |
| Hythe | Hythe | NDHYT |
| Paddock Wood | Paddock Wood | NDPWO |
| Uckfield | Uckfield | NDUCK |
| Bamburgh | Bamburgh | NEBU |
| Catterick Camp | Catterick Garrison | NECC |
| Newcastle East | Newcastle upon Tyne | NENTE |
| Islandmagee | Larne | NIIM |
| Elgin | Elgin | NSELG |
| Baldock | Baldock | SMBC |
| Chiseldon | Chiseldon | SSCDN |
| Alderbury | Alderbury | STALDBY |
| Shaftesbury | Shaftesbury | STSHABY |
| Tredegar | Tredegar | SWTR |
| East Horsley | East Horsley | THEY |
| Spetchley | Tibberton (Wychavon) | WMSPE |
| Abergele | Abergele | WNAGE |
| Llanarmon D C | Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog | WNLDC |
| Newtown | Newtown (Powys) | WNNN |
| Rhosllanerchrugog | Rhosllanerchrugog | WNRWX |
| Welshpool | Welshpool | WNWPL |
| Bishopbriggs | Bishopbriggs | WSBIS |
| Coulport | Ardpeaton | WSCOU |
| Durisdeer | Carronbridge | WSDUE |
| Dunsyre | Elsrickle | WSDUY |
| Kilninver | Toberonochy | WSKII |
| Old Dailly | Old Dailly | WSOLD |
| Pinwherry | Pinmore | WSPIN |
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 and Linkedin.
« O2 and Virgin Mobile UK Zero Rate Mobile Data on More Websites
Latest UK ISP News
- FTTP (5515)
- BT (3514)
- Politics (2537)
- Openreach (2297)
- Business (2262)
- Building Digital UK (2244)
- FTTC (2043)
- Mobile Broadband (1973)
- Statistics (1788)
- 4G (1664)
- Virgin Media (1619)
- Ofcom Regulation (1461)
- Fibre Optic (1395)
- Wireless Internet (1389)
- FTTH (1381)
Ramsgill Dale Uax13. Surely not?!
Yes, they recently upgraded from a manual switch ;). (well spotted!)
Those well know internet blackspots Greater London and Greater Manchester..
As usual this is a total sham, and openreach going for easy wins where the money is
What? Copper stop sell means that Openreach have covered the areas with FTTC/FTTP/Gfast and can subsequently shutdown the equipment in the exchange. This is about saving Openreach money by shutting down an increasingly redundant copper network (beyond the FTTC cabinet), the FTTP rollout is related but the rollout isn’t dictated by exchange shutdowns.
An FTTP priority area means that only FTTP can be ordered *if FTTP is available*.
Unsuprisingly BT will get a lot more money selling off exchanges on the middle of cities than in rural areas which is why they feature more. Rural areas are still getting FTTP upgrades.
Ironically, I grew up in the hills of Mid-Wales, but now live in urban central London (Ealing area).
My rural towns in Mid Wales (Welshpool and Newtown) are now scheduled to have FTTP well before it is expected in my area!!
Amused, but whatevs, I’ll survive on 80meg for now.
Seen about fifteen Openreach vans doing work in Silsden today. I assume they’re getting us ready for FTTP. Any idea how long it takes from here if the stop sell is next year?
Copper stop sell currently only affects copper voice (and ADSL unless there is a property on that exchange which isn’t served by FTTP or FTTC). FTTC will still be available as SOGEA.
As for FTTP, Openreach move pretty quick, generally you will see CBTs at the top of the pole with a coil of wire taped to the pole, once this coil is run and spliced in its a couple weeks till everything is activated.
FTTP is generally delayed by blocked ducts (if they are really blocked and the road needs digging up it will show on https://bidb.uk) or spine capacity limits (spine is the fibre wires from an underground node to an exchange, it is used for FTTC, FTTP and leased lines).
@Alex A, 2 weeks is very quick, typically it’s more like several weeks to never, sometimes even at the splice stage the rollout can be abandoned.
MyY exchange says Order restriction implementation Date 09/05/2023 yet my pole has not been upgraded to FTTP so I can only get FTTC. Brilliant isn’t? I will stay with VM until BTO upgrades my line to FTTP.
I you can’t get FTTP then the stop/ sell doesn’t apply
@Ribble yes it does, FTTC will become data only and the VOIP port on the ISPs router is used instead.
No, Alex, premises that can’t get FTTP can still use WLR until the nationwide stop-sell in September next year.
See https://www.openreach.co.uk/cpportal/products/the-all-ip-programme/stopsell-updates
I can’t quite understand why my exchange isn’t on here, looking at Thinkbroadband, my exchange has ~75% postcodes with FTTP, but it has no planned stop sell date; weird!
Likely because exchanges don’t automatically go onto the list when they hit 75% coverage. Exchanges have gone onto it when they’ve barely started seeing rollout of full fibre.
Openreach have their own priorities and wanting to stop-sell is a factor in which exchanges they build FTTP to.
@An Engineer, thanks, that makes sense. My exchange is quite small, that may be a factor.
My area added on Openreach website over 2 years ago and still no fiber.
There seems to be some reading comprehension difficulties here. The announcement is primarily about stopping old services, not delivering new ones.
im afraind you will find that pretty standard for most conversation threads on this platform
The two are inextricably linked.
I have been trying to get a fibre connection for 6 months.I live next to Canary wharf near SE16 5hj. My neighbor has fiber but open reach tells me there are capacity issues and hence they can’t get me internet.Any ideas who can help?
Basically, the new BT Digital Voice service switches off analogue copper on FTTC. I just joined BT Broadband FTTC on the 18th of July after 2 years and 5 months with TalkTalk (mainly due to TalkTalks price hikes to £40 a month).
I switched to the new service since CommunityFibre still haven’t arrived yet in my area and no point waiting further as I’ll just continue paying double to TalkTalk.
Anyway, I opted for the BT Digital Voice service and received a Smart Hub 2 and an Alexa Digital Phone handset for free. I have to say, I’m actually quite impressed with the phone sound quality, there’s no audio delay like with other VOIP services like Skype or Facebook!
In essence this service is basically SOGEA with Digital Voice! Analogue telephone line is turned off even on FTTC. There’s no dial tone if you plug normal traditional telephone line into the master/faceplate socket. You need to plug it in the router, though I haven’t tested this yet.
But I tested it on the master socket and it is switched off. This is good news because I was sometimes having problems with internet connection cutting off when intermittently plugging and unplugging telephone line. This interference issue no longer occurs having repeatedly tested it since the Analogue line is switched off.
The cordless phone doesn’t need to be plugged into the router as it is wireless that just needs registering with the router by pressing the WPS button and that’s all.
I believe the copper phone switch off by December 2025 will simply mean all ISPs will upgrade us to Digital Voice on the Openreach network.
Only drawback is that this may pose problems for the elderly and vulnerable people who are not technically well oriented and if the connection is down or there’s a power cut then the phone service will not work in case you need emergency calling. Most people have a mobile phone anyway. But this service is still very handy and you can mute the ringtone, which you can’t on a traditional analogue phone without unplugging the phone.
You people are lucky we have aluminum line not even copper when are open reach changing this to copper or even better fibre optic Ng16 5pn