UK to shut analogue landlines by January 2027
Openreach says the UK’s analogue phone network will be permanently switched off on 31 January 2027, leaving fewer than 100 days to migrate. The shutdown threatens services such as landlines, payment terminals and emergency phones, and BT has raised rental fees for legacy lines.
What happened
- 1 Oct, 00:00 UTC
Openreach doubled rental prices for legacy landline lines [1]
- 31 Mar, 00:00 UTC
BT increased landline‑only rental by £1 per month, with a 12‑month freeze on further hikes [1]
- 2 Nov, 20:00 UTC
Openreach warned fewer than 100 days remain before the analogue network is switched off on 31 Jan 2027 and urged businesses to audit and migrate services [1]
- 31 Jan, 2027
The UK analogue phone network will be permanently switched off, potentially disrupting landlines, emergency phones, fire alarms and payment terminals [1]
What you need to know
Migrate analogue services to digital (broadband) before 31 Jan 2027.
Expect higher costs as BT has raised line rental and further increases are planned from February.
Failure to migrate may cause loss of essential services such as emergency calls, fire alarms and payment terminals.
Households can keep a landline by connecting the phone to a broadband router.
It is not yet clear how many customers will be automatically moved to a temporary, more expensive service after the deadline, nor how fully the EU’s 2035 copper phase‑out will be implemented across member states.
Background
Openreach warned that fewer than 100 days remain before the UK’s analogue phone network is permanently switched off on 31 January 2027, affecting about one million copper lines including 300,000 business premises.
The shutdown could disable not only home phones but also card payment terminals, lift emergency phones, fire alarm panels, security systems and door entry units unless they are migrated to digital services.
Ofcom is monitoring BT’s prices for landline‑only customers, and the EU plans to make copper network shutdown mandatory across Europe by the end of 2035, with member states required to submit national phase‑out plans by 2029.
Questions people ask
Why is the UK analogue landline network being shut down?
Openreach says the analogue network will be permanently switched off on 31 January 2027 after years of declining usage and the need to move to all‑IP digital services.
What will happen to services like fire alarms or payment terminals if they are not migrated?
Those services could stop working because they rely on the copper analogue line, posing safety and compliance risks.
Can I keep my landline without broadband?
Yes, you can retain a landline by connecting the phone to a broadband router, which carries the signal over the internet.
Where this came from
Found through Google Trends and drafted with AI from at least two cited sources. Published automatically after passing our automated checks for sources, wording and safety. It may not have been reviewed by a person yet. Report a correction.