openreach added 238 UK exchanges to its FTTP Priority Exchange stop sell programme on 5 June 2026. The new tranche covers 1.69 million premises, and it means copper-based phone and broadband products will no longer be sold in those areas where fibre is available.
James Lilley on copper migration
James Lilley, Openreach’s Managed Customer Migrations Director, said the stop sell programme is “a vital step in accelerating the UK’s transition to a modern full fibre future.”
He also said, “As copper’s ability to support modern communications declines, the immediate focus is getting people onto newer, future proofed technologies.”
Openreach said the areas in the latest tranche have over 75% of premises able to get full fibre lines. That is the point at which copper products can later be switched off completely in an exchange area.
1,432 exchanges under stop sell
The 238 exchanges take the total number of exchange upgrades under active stop sell rules to 1,432. Openreach said those exchanges equate to 14.2 million premises, which is 61% of its total full fibre footprint.
That scale matters at premises level. Homes and businesses that cannot yet get FTTP will keep being served by copper-based broadband products, while areas that can take fibre move onto the newer lines first.
Openreach and the 2027 deadline
Openreach said its national stop sell on legacy phone services began on 5 September 2023. It also said the migration away from traditional legacy voice services to digital all-IP technologies is due to complete by 31 January 2027.
Lilley said, “This approach not only reduces the cost and complexity of having to maintain both old and new networks but also supports the industry-wide migration ahead of the legacy copper-based Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) now just under eight months away, by which time everyone will need a digital phone line.”
The unresolved issue is the pace of the remaining copper-to-fibre transition in each exchange area, because Openreach said that part of the migration will take several years locally even as the national voice switch-off deadline approaches.
