London, May 11, 2026, 10:07 BST
Openreach has added 238 UK telephone exchanges to its full-fibre “stop sell” programme, expanding the list of areas where older copper-based broadband and phone products will face new order limits. The May 8 update, listed as Tranche 24, takes the total FTTP Priority Exchange list to 2,116 entries, Openreach’s document showed.
This matters now because Britain’s copper exit is moving from network planning into customer migration. The Public Switched Telephone Network, or PSTN — the old analogue system behind traditional landline calls — is due to be retired by Jan. 31, 2027, with calls moving onto digital lines that run over broadband.
The new tranche covers about 1.69 million premises, ISPreview reported. Openreach’s schedule lists June 3, 2027 as the order-restriction implementation date for Tranche 24 entries, including exchanges such as Farnsfield, Quorn, Sileby, Layton in Blackpool, Jarrow, Dudley, Wembley and Norwich City.
A stop sell is not an immediate service switch-off. Openreach says the term means it stops selling certain products; existing customers can keep using them until withdrawal, subject to the wider migration timetable.
In FTTP Priority Exchanges, the rule applies only at premises where GEA-FTTP is available. GEA-FTTP is Openreach’s wholesale “fibre to the premises” service, meaning fibre runs all the way to a building rather than stopping at a street cabinet; where it is available, Openreach says it becomes the only product available for new supply.
That puts more pressure on service providers that buy Openreach lines, including Sky, BT, TalkTalk and Vodafone, to steer new orders and upgrades onto digital products where fibre is ready. James Lilley, Openreach’s Managed Customer Migrations Director, said earlier this year that “the immediate focus is getting people onto newer, future proofed technologies.” Openreach
Openreach, part of BT Group, has been adding fibre at scale. The company said in late April its Full Fibre network reached 22 million UK homes and businesses, with plans to extend that to 25 million by the end of 2026 and potentially 30 million by 2030 if investment conditions allow.
The commercial logic is take-up. BT said in February that Openreach had 8.2 million FTTP connections and a take-up rate of more than 38%, leaving many fibre-ready homes still on older products or rival networks.
Competition is part of the timing. Ofcom said in March that more than half of eligible customers had yet to upgrade to full fibre and that Openreach still held significant market power, even as about three quarters of UK premises could access at least two broadband networks. Virgin Media O2-backed nexfibre and CityFibre remain the main scale challengers in a market where smaller alternative networks are under financial strain.
But migration could still stumble. Digital voice depends on a broadband router and local power, unlike many old landlines that drew power from the exchange, and customers using telecare alarms, security systems, ATMs or other devices connected to a phone line may need extra checks or equipment. The House of Commons Library said providers signed commitments not to migrate telecare users unless their devices are compatible and to provide backup support beyond Ofcom’s minimum requirements.
BT has also started pushing hold-out analogue customers to respond when contacted. Lucy Baker, BT’s Consumer Digital Voice Director, said customers can overlook provider messages, “but doing so could disrupt essential connections.” BT Group Newsroom
For households, the practical question is whether the address can order Openreach full fibre and whether any device still uses the old phone socket. For businesses, the list raises a harder deadline for lift lines, alarms, payment terminals and legacy voice systems; waiting until the final provider notice leaves little room if an install needs an engineer, a new router or a fallback product.
