The latest step in its parent company’s plan to move customers off the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and upgrade to new digital services has seen Openreach reveal 132 UK exchange locations, covering 1.23 million premises, where the business aims to halt the sale of traditional copper-based phone and broadband services.
The BT-owned broadband company has regarded the shift from copper to full-fibre networks as “every bit as significant as the move from analogue to digital and black and white TV to colour”.
The programme was first mooted in 2019, with legacy network skills and parts increasingly difficult to come by, and with digital services – such as voice over IP (VoIP), video conferencing and other apps – becoming more popular and effective. By retiring analogue phone lines, Openreach said it would create a simplified network to meet the enhanced needs of an increasingly digital society.
In practical terms, BT is in the process of transitioning more than 14 million traditional lines across the UK onto digital services to realise its plan on a national basis. The stop sell process is triggered when a majority (75%) of premises connected to a particular BT comms exchange can get a full-fibre connection.
Customers who then want to switch, upgrade or regrade their broadband or phone service will have to take a new digital service over Openreach’s full-fibre network. People and business using these exchanges not yet able to get full-fibre at their premises won’t be affected and can stay on their existing copper-based service until full fibre becomes available.
Following the decision to shut down the PSTN, it was agreed to test processes for migrating customers to fibre services and, ultimately, withdraw legacy copper services and the wholesale line rental products that rely on them. Openreach is giving communications providers – such as BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Vodafone, which all use its network – a year’s notice that it will no longer be selling legacy analogue products and services in these circumstances.
Despite the general progress in the programme, in May 2024, BT Group revised its timetable for moving all customers off the PSTN from its original date of the end of 2025 to January 2027. The new deadline followed a series of improvements to the programme that BT assured would better protect vulnerable customers and those with additional needs, including telecare users. BT added that its revised approach will result in a single switch for the majority of customers – both businesses and consumers.
By mid-February 2026, stop sell rules will have been activated in 1,281 exchanges across the UK, representing around 12.5 million premises where Openreach full-fibre is available to a majority of premises and copper products cannot be sold, 51% of the company’s total full-fibre footprint.
The Openreach full-fibre network is currently available to 21 million premises, around 60%, and the provider is aiming for 25 million connections by the end of 2026 and 30 million by 2030, subject to the right regulatory conditions.
Commenting on the latest step in the programme, James Lilley, Openreach’s managed customer migrations director, said: “Our stop sell programme is a vital step in accelerating the UK’s transition to a modern full-fibre future. As copper’s ability to support modern communications declines, the immediate focus is getting people onto newer, future-proofed technologies.
“By phasing out legacy copper-based services in areas where fibre is now widely available, we’re ensuring customers and providers move onto faster, more reliable digital infrastructure. This approach not only reduces the cost and complexity of having to maintain both old and new networks, but also supports the industry-wide migration ahead of the legacy copper-based PSTN now just over 12 months away, by which time everyone will need a digital phone line.”
