350,000 business premises still need to leave the old phone network. What happens on 31 January?
Openreach says 1.2 million lines still have to migrate before the analogue phone network is withdrawn. There is no hard cut off on the day, but the fallback is limited and costs more.
Openreach published a warning on 15 October aimed at customers in Northern Ireland, where about 35,000 lines have yet to move, and ISPreview's report of it also gives the UK-wide picture. Around 15 million lines have already migrated. About 1.2 million remain, and roughly 350,000 of those are business premises. The date for the end of the old analogue phone network, the PSTN and Wholesale Line Rental, is 31 January 2027.
There is no cliff edge, but there is a catch
ISPreview reports that lines will not be disconnected on the deadline. A temporary service called Emergency Voice Access, or eVAC, will cover customers who have not moved. It is described as a last resort: it lacks some features and costs more than the old service. Where it is technically possible, it can also keep older ADSL, FTTC and G.fast broadband running. The copper lines themselves are not being removed, since they still carry digital services. What is being retired is the wholesale phone product and the network behind it.
What depends on your phone line
The part that catches businesses out is rarely the desk phone. ISPreview's report names alarms, payment terminals, lift phones and CCTV systems, as well as medical devices, as equipment that can depend on an analogue line. Openreach's advice is to contact your communications provider and any equipment supplier or maintainer to confirm your options and any changes needed.
Why now rather than January
Openreach says spare engineering capacity and migration discounts are available at the moment, and that acting before the deadline is better than relying on eVAC. The closer the date, the more of the remaining 350,000 business premises will be asking for the same engineers at the same time.
What this means for your business
Do two things this week. First, list every line your business pays for, and next to each one write what is connected to it: phones, alarm, card machine, door entry, lift line, broadband. Second, ask your provider in writing for the migration date for each line, and confirm that anything that depends on it has a plan. If you find a line nobody can account for, find out before the deadline, not after. If you are in Exeter or the South West and want help working through the list, we can do it with you.
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