The Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) switch-off will definitely happen in January 2027, regardless of anything else.
That was the key message from a panel of experts who discussed the digital switchover at Channel Live held at Birmingham’s NEC recently.
The panel, which was chaired by John Livermore, all-IP industry engagement manager at Openreach, featured James Lilley, director, all-IP at Openreach,; Steve Blackshaw, IP migration director at BT Business; Griff Jones, head of telecommunications modernisation team at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology; Jacob Brown, head of product at Daisy Business Partners; and David Christie, senior regulatory policy advisor at Virgin Media 02.
Initially the deadline was set for December 2025, but then it was extended to 31 January 2027 to give the industry more time to address various challenges, most notably ensuring that elderly and vulnerable customers are safely migrated over.
When asked if the deadline would be moved again, Lilley replied, “It can’t. We are getting to a tipping point now where it’s going to be more dangerous for people to stay on the current PSTN than to move to all-IP. Also, it’s such a big overhead to manage a legacy network with a diminishing workforce.”
Moving forward, Lilley said that there would be a concerted push over the next year to get everyone moved across. He said that thanks to new product innovations and capabilities available to it, Openreach was now in a much better position to transition the remaining customers.
“There will be a step change as we approach January 2027,” said Lilley. “We have got a much better product set and tools in our kit bag to get it done now.”
Questioned on what would happen if everyone wasn’t moved by the deadline, Lilley said that the PSTN will have to be switched off regardless. But, first, he said that Openreach would do everything it could to safely migrate them.
“Ultimately, we’ll have to turn people off,” said Lilley. “But we will first do everything in our power to get them safely moved across. There comes a point, though, where you have to say enough is enough and take decisive action.”
Challenging customers
Lilley said that Openreach had already successfully transitioned 10 million customers over, but there were still 5 million left to move. These included some of the more challenging ones, such as the Critical National Infrastructure (CNI), vulnerable customers and businesses, he said.
“The good news is that we’re getting into the lower volumes now,” said Lilley. “However, some of the more challenging customer base remains.
“But we’re doing a lot of work on this front. For example, our engineers will be testing telecare devices to ensure that they work safely as we move customers over to all-IP products, and we’ll be doing that at scale across the country this summer.”
Blackshaw said that the move to all-IP should be viewed as a prime opportunity for the industry. But he added that, despite the deadline extension, given the time it can take to move customers, particularly those with large estates, it was imperative to start doing so now.
“With the UK moving to a digital economy, this is not only an opportunity to close an old and failing network, but also to move our customers to a better, faster and more sustainable one,” said Blackshaw. “The clock is ticking and the time to move is now.”
Citing Ofcom’s 2024 Connected Nations report, Blackshaw said that there had been a 45 per cent increase in major incidents on the PSTN in the last year alone. Given that one incident can put 500 or more lines out of service, he said the disruption caused by this was another key reason to move to the new digital network.
Another aspect, said Blackshaw, was the fact that Openreach had recently announced it will be changing the terms of wholesale line rentals to 90-day rolling contracts from 1 January 2026, where the new terms and pricing are currently unknown. That’s why it’s in customers’ interests to make the move sooner rather than later, he said.
“This is the year of opportunity,” said Blackshaw. “Communications providers need to be carrying out audits, finding out what’s on their customers’ networks and how they’re using them, and then mapping that to new solutions.”
Jones said that government was working with the industry on the switch-off initiative to find solutions for the CNI and other users. He revealed that it had also almost formalised its CNI charter, while vulnerable users remained a big focus too.
“The sooner we can get vulnerable users moved, the better, and we’re making sure that happens,” said Jones. “By moving over to these newer products, it will also enable them to live more independently for longer.”