Openreach: UK landlines switch off January 31, 2027, with no delay

Openreach has told communications providers that Britain's ageing telephone network will be shut down on January 31, 2027, and that the date will not be moved, according to The Register. The BT Group infrastructure division sent the warning in a letter this week to the providers that rely on its network to serve their own customers.

The letter says anyone still connected through the legacy public switched telephone network could see their service disrupted once it is retired. The impact is expected to reach both homes and businesses.

Ordinary voice calls are only part of what is at stake. Payment terminals in shops, fire and security alarms, and personal care alarms used by elderly and vulnerable people all depend on the same PSTN connections.

The closure forms part of a government push to move the UK onto all-digital high-speed networks carried over fiber-optic cable. The old service, which runs on copper wiring, was seen as an obstacle to that plan.

For households that still want a landline, the replacement means connecting the handset to a broadband router so it can work through a Digital Voice service. Plenty of homes have already dropped landline handsets altogether and rely only on mobiles.

Openreach has worked toward this change for close to ten years and has already delayed the date at least once. The government had asked providers not to push vulnerable customers using phone-based systems such as TeleCare onto new connections until fixes were ready.

Analyst Paolo Pescatore of PP Foresight said public awareness of the coming disconnection remains weak. He called for a coordinated campaign that reaches customers directly, including TV, billboard and newspaper advertising, backed by letters, calls and door-to-door help for older and vulnerable people.

Openreach has published a webpage about the switch-off. It advises consumers to contact their service provider as soon as possible so their service is not interrupted. Customers without a fiber connection will likely move to a transitional product that keeps their old line working through equipment in the local exchange.