By Emma Lewis, bOnline
Next month, over seven million homes and businesses will be affected by Openreach’s “stop sell” initiative.
Openreach has unveiled plans to stop selling copper-based phone and broadband services at 163 new exchange locations, covering more than 960,000 premises across the UK. This move aims to encourage people to upgrade to modern digital services via full fibre connections. It’s all part of the landline shutdown.
James Lilley, Managed Customer Migrations Manager at Openreach, explained, “This stop sell programme is an essential step in ensuring the UK’s communication infrastructure is ready for the future. As we roll out more full fibre, it’s only logical to encourage people to upgrade, since running both the old copper network and the new fibre network isn’t sustainable, either operationally or commercially.”
He added, “Copper is no longer able to support the demands of modern communication, so we’re focused on moving people to newer, more reliable technologies.”
By the middle of February, the stop sell rules will be active in 852 exchanges. This will impact over seven million premises – about 40% of Openreach’s full fibre footprint.
The stop sell kicks in once 75% of homes and businesses connected to an exchange can access full fibre. After that, anyone who wants to upgrade or change their broadband or phone service will need to switch to a digital service over the new fibre network.
Openreach is giving service providers like BT, Sky, Vodafone and TalkTalk a year’s notice that they’ll no longer be able to offer old copper-based services once full fibre becomes available.
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Why Are Landlines Being Switched Off?
UK landlines are being switched off because the technology behind them, known as copper-based networks, is becoming outdated so it’s difficult and expensive to maintain. It’s also now unable to meet the growing demands of modern communication, especially as more of us than ever work remotely. As we rely more on the internet for everything from calls to work, gaming and streaming, it makes sense to move to faster, more reliable full fibre connections that can support future needs.
Switching off landlines helps free up resources to build and expand these newer networks, ensuring everyone has access to better, more reliable services.
Is Your Area On The List?
You can find the full list of 163 exchanges set for stop sell on the UK Fibre Connectivity Forum website. This is part of Tranche 19 of the programme.
