Openreach list UK cities with most analogue phone lines yet to make digital switch

Six months now remain until the old analogue phone network (PSTN/WLR) is switched off in favour of modern IP-based digital alternatives. In order to help highlight the urgency of this, Openreach have published a league table showing how many lines have yet to make the switch across the UK’s ten largest cities. London naturally has the largest pool of laggards at 235,934 lines.

The good news is that across all ten cities and their surrounding areas, around 90 per cent of legacy lines – more than 6 million, have already migrated to digital services, over the last five years, but that leaves around 600,000 lines still to be migrated ahead of the PSTN switch-off. So far Liverpool appears to be making the best progress, with just 42,351 lines left to switch (6.35% of the total)

Other cities that made good progress in the race to make the digital switch are Manchester with just over 7% yet to migrate, followed by Cardiff with just over 8% and Leeds with around 8.6%. Trailing in the bottom with the largest percentage of legacy lines still left to migrate is London on nearly 13%.

Just to recap. The old Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) is currently due to be switched-off on 31st January 2027. As a result broadband ISPs, phone, telecare providers, councils and consumers have been working to migrate everybody across (details). But the main focus of this remains on the 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 this upgrade usually involves a fairly seamless change of service, managed 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.

James Lilley, Director of All-IP at Openreach, said:

“When it comes to preparing for the switch-off, our Northern cities appear to have a head start. But the bigger story is the progress being made right across the UK, with more than 90 per cent of legacy lines across ten major cities and their surrounding areas already upgraded to digital alternatives.

That means around seven million copper-based services have made the switch. But with more than 600,000 lines still to migrate, there’s no room for complacency.

Many organisations may have already upgraded their phone line but may not realise how many other services still rely on the old network, from payment terminals and lift alarms to security systems, door entry systems and building management technology. Once the PSTN is withdrawn, those services could stop working unless they’ve been upgraded or replaced.”

Nationwide, Openreach today said they estimate that around 1.5 million lines are still operating on the old copper-based phone network, including around 350k business premises. This is the same figure they gave at the end of July 2026, which makes us think it might be out of date as we’d expect it to have fallen a fair bit since then.

Consumers who fail to switch in time won’t face a hard disconnection on 31st January 2027 and will instead be moved to a temporary Emergency Voice Access (eVAC) solution, which has its caveats. Business lines, however, won’t benefit from the same protection and will need to go digital ASAP to avoid a sudden loss of service – potentially impacting critical systems like payment terminals, alarms, and emergency lift phones etc.

As the industry enters the final phase of migration, Openreach recently warned that waiting too long could make it harder to secure the engineering support needed for the switch before the deadline. In addition, Openreach has previously stated that prices for these legacy copper line services are set to double by October 2026 (details), which is another good reason NOT to leave upgrading until the last minute.

The PSTN/WLR switch-off is, however, not to be confused with the removal of the physical copper lines themselves. Modern digital alternatives are available via both existing copper (e.g. both ADSL and VDSL/FTTC broadband lines also data-only equivalents via copper) and full fibre (FTTP) lines. The removal of copper lines is a much slower process that will take years to fully complete after FTTP becomes available.