Openreach stops ale of copper-based phone and broadband services in more areas

The move covers more than 880,000 premises across the UK

Openreach is stopping the sale of traditional copper-based phone and broadband services in an additional 84 exchange locations, impacting over 880,000 UK premises.

This move aims to push customers towards upgrading to cutting-edge digital services through an ultrafast full fibre connection. The telecoms giant has given a year’s notice to communication providers that rely on its network, stating it will cease selling outdated analogue products and services as soon as full fibre is accessible to most properties in these newly listed areas.

James Lilley, Openreach’s managed customer migrations manager, commented: “We’re moving to a digital world and Openreach is helping with that transformation by rolling out ultrafast, ultra-reliable, and future-proofed digital full fibre across the UK. This game-changing technology will become the backbone of our economy for decades to come, supporting every aspect of our public services, businesses, industries and daily lives.”

Mr Lilley also highlighted the current reach of their network, adding, “Already, our full fibre network is available to close to 14 million homes and businesses, with more than four million premises currently taking a service. Taking advantage of the progress of our full fibre build and encouraging people to upgrade where a majority can access our new network is the right thing to do as it makes no sense, both operationally and commercially, to keep the old copper network and our new fibre network running side-by-side.”