Openreach Reduces Pilot for National UK Exchange Closures

Openreach (BT) has published an update on their Exchange Exit Pilot, which recognises the “resource-intensive nature” of the work for ISPs and has thus reduced the number of exchanges involved from five to three. All of this forms part of their plan to shut 4,500 exchanges, which will impact various broadband, PIA and Ethernet services.

Openreach currently runs c. 5,600 UK exchanges, but only c. 1,000 of these exchanges – the Openreach Handover Points (OHPs) – are used to provide nationwide coverage of modern “fibre broadband” based services (FTTC, FTTP and G.fast). But the rollout of full fibre, combined with the retirement of copper lines and analogue services, will eventually make it economically unviable to support both the old and new exchanges.

The operator has thus formed a long-term plan to close the vast majority of their older exchanges – known as the ‘Exchange Exit Programme‘. The aim is to conduct an initial closure of around 100 priority exchanges by 2030 (taking place between 2027 and 2030), with the rest following gradually in the years thereafter. But before that, the operator has been piloting their approach via an initial batch of just 5 exchanges.

The initial pilot, which began in May 2022 (here), involved five “child exchanges” that Openreach aimed to switch-off in 2024-25 – including Deddington, Carrickfergus, Ballyclare, Glengormley, and Kenton Road. But a recent industry consultation on their proposed approach (here) revealed that this was causing some headaches for providers.

“In response to CP feedback and recognising the resource-intensive nature of the five Exchange Exit pilot exchanges, we have decided to reduce the number of pilot exchanges from five to three. Carrickfergus and Glengormley will move from the Exchange Exit pilot and be repositioned into phase one of the Exchange Exit 2030 programme. Streamlining the pilot … will enable Openreach and CPs to concentrate our efforts where they are most needed, addressing challenges with greater precision.,” said Openreach.

The Revised Exchange Exit Pilot

We should point out that Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband coverage across Deddington is already effectively universal (c.99%+), while the other two locations are only a few percentage points behind and coverage is expected to improve before the complete closure. But Openreach has previously warned that they may be unable to provide FTTP to everybody (i.e. issues of prohibitively high costs and permissions/consents to cross private land etc.) and “in these scenarios, customers may need to seek an alternative provider or technology solution.”

An Openreach spokesperson told ISPreview:

“In December 2020 – we asked our Communication Provider customers for their views on plans to close 4,600 exchanges throughout the UK by the late 2030s.

Today these exchanges support traditional copper-based phone and broadband but, as we upgrade the UK from analogue copper-based services to digital fibre-based ones, many exchanges will eventually become unviable for Openreach and Communication Providers (CPs) to operate from, so closing them down is a natural next step.

We’re under no illusions that this is going to be a hugely complex programme to plan and deliver – so we formulated a plan to develop and test approaches to mass-migrating CPs customers using five pilot exchanges; in Deddington, Ballyclare, Kenton Road, Carrickfergus, and Glengormley, with product switch-off coming later next year. We are also consulting with CPs on a further 103 exchanges to be exited by 2030 (‘Exchange Exit 2030). These have some of the highest running costs so there’s a clear advantage in targeting them first.

In response to CP feedback and recognising the resource-intensive nature of both the WLR Withdrawal programme and the Exchange Exit 2030 programme, we have decided to reduce the number of pilot exchanges from five to three – allowing Openreach and CPs to address challenges with greater precision. Two of the three N.Ireland exchanges, Carrikfergus and Glengormley, will now be included in the phase one of the Exchange Exit 2030 programme.”

The operator currently envisages a gradual four-phased approach toward closure, which reflects the complexity of what they’re trying to do. The process of exiting the most complex exchanges would thus begin up to 7 years before their exit date, although the simplest exchanges could be done within 4 years.

In terms of the 4-year approach, the first 3 years would focus on encouraging voluntary migration and using “stop sells” on old products (i.e. you can’t buy them any more), while the final year would involve “supported migrations” or the risk of your service being ceased if the retail provider fails to achieve this. ISPs would also be expected to remove their kit from exchanges in the final year.

The operator is also having to grapple with the still thorny issue of Ethernet, Dark Fibre (DFX) and PIA (access to existing cable ducts and poles) solutions, which are supplied by many of the old exchanges. Alternative networks have previously warned that the costs involved with adapting to this could be significant (here) – risking their investments becoming unviable, and have called on Openreach to “shoulder a portion of the costs to its customers of accommodating” the closures. Openreach have previously said that they may be able to help in some, but perhaps not all, areas.

Openreach are choosing the first c. 100 exchanges based on a variety of different factors, such as FTTP coverage, location (avoiding resources contention), volume of Ethernet and optical customers served, and complexity of the exchange itself. In addition, issues of expiring leases and other cost impacts also have a role to play.

Openreach have previously said that they would prioritise exchanges where the potential benefits of exit are highest (e.g. those with very high running costs). But just to be clear, the operator will NOT be withdrawing exchanges in areas where doing so would leave lots of existing customers disconnected (i.e. no fibre or FTTC alternatives).

A total of 105 exchanges are currently expected to have been exited by December 2030.