Openreach Offers Free PSTN Migrations for Voice Only UK Phone Lines

Network access provider Openreach (BT) has today moved to help facilitate the closure of the old analogue phone network (PSTN/WLR) in favour of digital (IP-based) alternatives, which they’ve done by making it free for broadband and phone providers to migrate WLR Solus (i.e. voice-only lines) to MPF (fully unbundled) or SOTAP (data-only copper broadband for areas without fibre) lines.

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 the 1.8 million 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 because telecare providers were slow to adapt.

However, in total there are still c.2.4 million UK lines on the old phone WLR/PSTN network that need to be migrated across all providers, with around half a million 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 another good reason not to leave upgrading until the last minute.

As it stands there are various solutions and approaches that now exist to handle different scenarios under this migration (e.g. Prove Telecare and temporary Pre-Digital Phone Lines / SOTAP Analogue), but a fear remains that at the current run rate of reductions (c. 44,000 per week), some old phone and broadband lines may still not be migrated by the deadline (those who fail to achieve this may be placed on Emergency Voice Access).

So as well as today announcing the extension of existing special offers for the WLR to SOGEA migration path (copper broadband lines) until 31st October 2026, Openreach have also introduced free migrations for those moving from WLR Solus (i.e. voice-only lines) to MPF or SOTAP services (this doesn’t extend to SOTAP Analogue). Providers with unbundled networks, such as Sky Broadband, Vodafone and TalkTalk, may find this useful.

The offer only applies to migrations placed between 8th June 2026 to 31st October 2026 inclusive, which must complete within 30 days at the end of the offer. You can read the full briefing here and yes, the jargon around all this can be a bit confusing. The short and simple version is to say they’re trying to remove cost as a barrier to digital phone migrations as much as is possible, both for telecoms providers and end-users.