Stop Sell hits all 1,572 Openreach exchanges on 20 August. Here is what it blocks.
Another 112 exchange areas joined the list this month. From 20 August the rules apply everywhere they have been declared, covering roughly 15.4 million premises.
Openreach has added another 112 exchange areas to its Stop Sell programme, the 25th tranche to date. That takes the running total to 1,572 exchanges covering around 15.4 million premises, about 57% of its fibre footprint. From 20 August the Stop Sell rules apply across all of them.
What Stop Sell actually blocks
Stop Sell is triggered once 75% of premises served by an exchange can order full fibre. From that point providers cannot sell legacy copper products into that area. In practice that means no new analogue lines, no upgrades to an existing copper service, and no like for like copper install when you move premises. If your building cannot get fibre yet, your existing service carries on until it can.
The deadline behind the deadline
The bigger date is 31 January 2027, when the analogue PSTN service retires. Openreach has said there will not be a big bang on 1 February, and that lines still connected after the cut will be assessed and, where there is capacity, moved onto an emergency voice product. That is a safety net rather than a plan. Openreach has also been raising charges on legacy lines through the year, to the point where holdouts pay roughly double the rental they paid last year.
Why this bites businesses harder than homes
A home with one line has one decision to make. A business often has a main number, a set of direct dials, a card machine, a lift line, an alarm line and a door entry panel. Those last four are the ones that get forgotten until they stop working. Anything that dials out over an analogue pair needs checking, not just the phones on desks.
What this means for your business
If you are still on copper, the practical deadline is not January. It is the day you next need to add a line, move office or upgrade, because in a Stop Sell area you will not be allowed to. Get an inventory of every analogue line in the building, including alarms and lifts, and decide what replaces each one well before the January 2027 retirement.
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