The PSTN switch-off: what stops working on 31 January 2027

Three years ago Openreach told every phone and broadband provider in the country to stop selling new copper lines. Almost nobody outside the industry noticed. The date that follows it is harder to ignore: on 31 January 2027, the old analogue telephone network switches off for good, and Openreach has said there will be no further extensions. If your business still has a phone line that isn't already running over fibre, or an alarm, lift or card machine that quietly depends on one, that date matters more than it currently feels like it does.

This isn't a warning about some obscure service you've never heard of. It's the network BT and every other UK phone provider has leased capacity on for decades, and it genuinely is being switched off. Around 2.8 million lines are still running on it, and Openreach puts more than 500,000 of those at business premises. The question worth answering now, months before the deadline, is what's actually plugged into yours.

What switches off, and when

31 January 2027 is the date the PSTN, the Public Switched Telephone Network, stops carrying traffic anywhere in the UK. Everything that runs over old copper wiring rather than fibre goes with it: analogue phone lines, ISDN circuits, and broadband technologies like ADSL and FTTC that still use copper for part of the connection. Full fibre broadband and phone services already running as a digital voice service aren't affected by the switch-off itself, though plenty of businesses assume they're already migrated when they're not.

The "stop sell" already happened

Openreach stopped taking new orders for copper-based products nationally on 5 September 2023. That date is already history rather than something still ahead, which is why some providers have spent the last two years quietly pushing customers toward digital alternatives. In exchange areas where local fibre coverage passed 75% of premises earlier, the stop sell applied years before the national date, some more than five years ago. If your business hasn't heard from its provider about this yet, it's worth asking directly rather than waiting for a letter.

It's not just the phone on the desk

The line into most small business premises rarely carries just a phone call. Fire and burglar alarms, lift emergency phones, door entry systems, some CCTV setups and card payment terminals have all historically used the same copper connection, quietly, in the background, for years. Openreach's own figures put more than 12,000 lift lines and around 500 CCTV connections still needing to move before the deadline, on top of the 500,000-plus business phone lines. None of that shows up on an invoice as "your phone system." It shows up as a fire alarm engineer's visit that nobody remembers booking, until the line stops working and the alarm can't dial out.

The price is already climbing

Openreach isn't waiting until January 2027 to make copper less attractive. The wholesale price it charges providers for a basic line rose 20% on 1 April 2026, a further 40% on 1 July, and another 40% is due on 1 October, roughly doubling the underlying cost over nine months. Providers are expected to pass most of that on to customers, though the exact figure on your bill will depend on your own contract. If your business is still paying for an analogue line or ISDN circuit, that cost has already started moving, and it isn't going to level off before the network itself switches off.

When a migration goes wrong

Getting this wrong has consequences beyond an annoyed customer. In December 2025, Ofcom fined Virgin Media £23.8 million after it disconnected telecare customers, people relying on a personal alarm pendant that dials for help through a landline, without properly checking who was still dependent on the line. Thousands were left at what Ofcom called direct risk of harm between August 2022 and December 2023. It's a residential case, not a business one, but the lesson translates directly: nobody had confirmed what was still running on those lines before they were switched off, and something critical was. A quiet copper connection into a small office is exactly as easy to overlook.

"We're already on fibre broadband" isn't the same question

Plenty of businesses have upgraded their broadband to full fibre and assume that settles it. It doesn't, not on its own. A fibre internet connection and a phone service still running over the old analogue standard, sometimes delivered through the same router via an adapter, are two separate things migrated on separate timelines. The reliable way to check is to ask your phone and alarm providers directly whether the specific service you're on, not just your broadband, is already digital or still waiting.

A practical order to do this in

Start with what's actually connected, not what you assume is connected: pull the invoices for phone lines, alarm monitoring, lift maintenance and card payment services, and check what each one runs over. Ask each provider for their specific migration date, since many are moving customers well ahead of January 2027 to manage the volume. For anything alarm or safety-related, get written confirmation from the installer that it's been tested after migration, not just switched, because a line that dials out to the wrong place is worse than one you know is disconnected. Do this months out rather than in the autumn of 2026, because engineer availability tightens as the deadline gets closer and everyone else has the same idea at the same time.

Where Alpha IT fits in

We're not a telecoms provider, and we won't sell you a phone line. What we can do, as the people who already manage your network and firewall, is help you work out what's actually running over your existing connection, make sure your network is ready to carry VoIP or SIP-based calls cleanly once you switch, and flag anything, an old alarm panel, a card machine on a standalone line, that's easy to miss because it's never been part of an IT conversation before. If you're not sure where to start, our free IT health check is a reasonable first step, or get in touch directly.