The UK Phone Network Switch-Off: What Your Business Needs to Do Before January 2027
The UK Phone Network Switch-Off: What Your Business Needs to Do Before January 2027
On 31 January 2027, the UK’s traditional copper telephone network, known as the PSTN, is being retired. It has carried the country’s phone calls for over a century, and after one delay already, Openreach has been clear that the date will not move again.
For most businesses this isn’t just about the phone on the desk. Plenty of everyday equipment quietly relies on an old phone line, and the time to find out what yours depends on is now, not in late January.
What’s Actually Happening
The PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) is the analogue network behind traditional landlines. Openreach is withdrawing the old line rental products that run on it, and calls are moving to digital, internet-based services instead. The switch-off was originally planned for December 2025 and was pushed back to 31 January 2027 to give everyone more time, particularly to protect vulnerable people who use telecare alarms.
Most homes and businesses have already moved. But in July 2026, around 1.5 million lines were still on the old network, including roughly 350,000 business premises.
What Could Stop Working
The obvious one is your phone line. The less obvious ones are the devices that dial out over a phone line without anyone thinking about it. It’s worth checking:
- Phone lines and older phone systems, including ISDN lines and on-site phone systems that connect to traditional lines
- Broadband on an older line, as some connections still depend on a phone line that’s being withdrawn
- Card payment machines that connect through a phone line rather than broadband or mobile data
- Intruder and fire alarms, especially monitored systems that call a monitoring centre
- Lift emergency phones and door entry systems
- Fax and franking machines, if you still use them
A simple rule of thumb: if it plugs into a phone socket, check it.
What Happens If You Do Nothing
There won’t be a sudden cut-off on 1 February. Openreach has confirmed that customers who haven’t moved will be given a temporary emergency-only voice service, which now applies to businesses as well as homes. But that is a last resort designed for essential calls, not a way to keep running your business. Your normal service, and anything else plugged into that line, should be treated as ending.
The bigger risk is leaving it late. Openreach has warned that waiting could make it harder to get the engineering support needed before the deadline, and with hundreds of thousands of businesses still to switch, installation slots will only get tighter as January approaches.
What to Do Now
Openreach sums up the process as review, test and switch. In practice, that looks like this:
- List every phone number and line you have. Your bill is a good starting point, but check for lines nobody remembers, such as the one for the alarm or the lift.
- Find out what’s connected to each line. Phones, the card machine, the alarm panel, the door entry system.
- Check each device will work on a digital line. Your alarm company, card machine provider and lift maintainer can confirm, and many devices just need a small adapter or a setting change.
- Choose what replaces your phone line. For most businesses that means a cloud phone system, which works over your internet connection and can follow your team wherever they work.
- Sort your broadband at the same time. If your internet still runs over an old phone line, it makes sense to move to a data-only or full fibre connection as part of the same change.
Done in that order, the switch itself is usually straightforward. The problems come from discovering an alarm or a card machine on the old line after it has stopped working.
Where CCSW Comes In
We help businesses across South Wales and the UK move off the old network without disruption. That includes checking what’s connected to your lines, replacing them with CCSW CallOne, our cloud phone system, or Microsoft Teams Phone if your team already lives in Teams, and upgrading your connection through our business broadband and leased lines.
If you’re not sure what’s still running on your phone lines, get in touch and we’ll help you work it out, with plenty of time to spare before January.
