PSTN switch-off on 31 January 2027 and what UK businesses should do

The UK phone network, the PSTN, closes on 31 January 2027, and Openreach says about one million copper lines are still active, 300,000 of them in business premises. Moving your phone numbers to a digital service is usually quick. The harder job is finding the alarms, lifts and card machines still tied to an old line. If you have not started, begin with an audit this week.

When does the UK landline network shut down?

Openreach's 30 October 2026 announcement says the Public Switched Telephone Network will be permanently decommissioned on 31 January 2027. Its later update confirms the deadline remains unchanged. This is an industry-led switch from analogue lines to digital calling over broadband, not a government scheme that requires you to buy a particular product.

GOV.UK's guidance on the move to digital landlines adds that for most customers the upgrade is expected to be complete by January 2027. It also says not every analogue service stops then, because some providers have different timetables. Ask each company that bills you for a line when it needs you to move.

How many business lines are still on the old network?

Openreach reports approximately one million copper-based lines still active, including 300,000 within business premises. Its regional breakdown shows London and the South East with 250,473 legacy lines, Wales and the Midlands with 233,033 and Northern England with 207,135. Scotland has 112,794 and Northern Ireland 32,809.

Those are lines, not businesses. Openreach says the straightforward migrations are largely done and what remains is the complex work, such as large multi-site organisations with several suppliers and undocumented circuits.

What else is connected to your phone line?

Your communications provider will not know everything attached to your line, so the review is yours to do. GOV.UK says business customers should check devices such as lift alarms, burglar alarms and card payment systems and decide whether they need replacing.

Openreach lists the systems that most often depend on the old network. These are payment terminals, lift emergency telephones, fire alarm communication panels, security monitoring, door entry and gates, and building energy management and telemetry.

Write a list of every line, what it does and who maintains the equipment. Ask each maintainer in writing whether the device works on a digital line, and test it after the move.

What will you use instead of a landline?

The usual replacement is voice over IP, where calls run over your broadband. If you want broadband without a voice line, Openreach's SOGEA provides it, and you buy calling separately from a provider.

BT's Digital Voice for Business is one published option. It lists Essential at £15, Enhanced at £18 and Extra at £21 per user per month, all excluding VAT. BT says the price rises by £1 each 1 April, to £16, £19 and £22 on 1 April 2027. These figures are one provider's list prices, not a market average, so get at least two quotes covering numbers, set-up and connected equipment.

For a ten-person office on Essential, the arithmetic gives £150 a month, or £1,800 a year, before VAT and any one-off costs.

How many alarms and lifts still rely on the PSTN?

There is no UK-wide census. A report for BT dated 25 September 2025, Economic Benefits of Digital Migration for Critical National Infrastructure Customers, models 124,887 fire and security alarms and 278,851 lift alarms on the PSTN in its alarms sector category. Treat those as a sector estimate from that report, not a count of what is connected today.

Which provider can move my business calls, and what about hotels?

Any communications provider that sells business voice over IP can move your numbers. Compare BT Digital Voice for Business with at least one other supplier, and ask each to price number porting, handsets, set-up and any connected equipment.

Hotel groups and other multi-site businesses should ask for a site-by-site plan. The visible job, replacing reception and room phones, is the easy part. Lifts, fire panels, door entry and card terminals at each property need separate sign-off before the supplier calls the migration complete.

What contingency plans cover devices not moved by the deadline?

Three layers help. Openreach may move eligible lines to EVAc, which is temporary and cannot be reserved. A provider can ask Openreach to keep linked broadband running where technically possible. Neither guarantees that old equipment works.

Your own plan should name an owner for every device, a tested replacement date, and a manual fallback, such as mobile phones for the lift and a written call-out route for the alarm monitoring centre.

What is EVAc and should you rely on it?

Openreach says customers who have not moved by 31 January 2027 may be transferred to Emergency Voice and Access Continuity, known as EVAc. It describes EVAc as a limited, temporary, last-resort phone service that keeps access to essential calls. Where technically possible, it will also keep linked broadband running.

It is not a plan. Openreach says EVAc cannot be ordered in advance, its capacity is not unlimited and cannot be reserved, and it is "temporary, limited and more expensive than modern alternatives". Single lines that cannot be moved to it will be ceased in tranches.

EVAc is priced for providers at £35 a month for WLR3 Basic and £38.60 for WLR Premium. Those are wholesale charges, so confirm what your own bill would be. A working dial tone also does not prove that an old alarm communicator can still reach its monitoring centre.

What does waiting cost?

Openreach says the final phase of its rental price rises for WLR basic and other variants, as well as legacy ISDN services, took effect on 1 October 2026 and doubled the 2025 rental price for legacy lines, with more rises planned from February 2027. It has also launched migration offers, including free or discounted connections for providers upgrading customers to SOGEA or moving voice-only lines.

Staying on the old network is therefore getting dearer as the date approaches. Ask your provider whether any of those offers apply to you.

What should you do this month?

Audit every line, including the ones nobody remembers. Order the replacement for each, starting with the safety-critical devices. Get written confirmation from the equipment maintainers, test every device on the new service, and keep a written emergency contact arrangement independent of your main phone system. Treat 31 January 2027 as the date by which everything must be finished, not the date to start ordering.

Sources

• Openreach, fewer than 100 days left to move off the old analogue phone network, 30 October 2026
• Openreach, Openreach to protect broadband connections as PSTN closure approaches
• BT, Economic Benefits of Digital Migration for Critical National Infrastructure Customers, 25 September 2025
• GOV.UK, UK transition from analogue to digital landlines
• BT Business, Digital Voice for Business, checked November 2026