The Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) is due to be switched off by BT Group on 31 January 2027 and as a result our associated Wholesale Line Rental (WLR*) services will need to migrate to All IP by this date.  Ahead of this deadline we ran trials in Mildenhall and Salisbury with the aim of migrating impacted services to All IP by October 2023.  We stopped selling WLR* in Salisbury in December 2020 and in Mildenhall in May 2021.

CPs migrated many end customers to All IP, and also identified a number of vulnerable end customers dependant on health care devices which now have exemptions in place.  Openreach agreed exempt customers would not be affected by any proposed activity in the trials.

The trials in Mildenhall and Salisbury closed in October 2023, and a summary of the post-trial learnings and recommendations can be found here.

*WLR comprises PSTN, ISDN2, ISDN30 and includes Classic. Note that withdrawal will also apply to any broadband product (SMPF or FTTC) associated with a WLR PSTN line

16 February 2024:  Publication of the Salisbury and Mildenhall All IP trials Post Implementation Review (PIR) – GEN017/24

Both trial areas represented the two main ‘types’ of areas across the UK.  Salisbury represented the areas with a high coverage of Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) (over 75%) and Mildenhall represented the areas with lower FTTP coverage.  Both types needed to move to All IP ahead of the PSTN switch-off on 31 January 2027, either to FTTP if available or an All IP alternative e.g. SOGEA. Full stop sell details can be found here.

Over 95% of Salisbury premises had FTTP availability which meant most copper-based services were being retired. In December 2020 we stopped selling WLR* services. All new orders are FTTP (where available). This meant that broadband and voice customers (unless exempt) had to migrate to FTTP before the trials ended in October 2023.

A key impact for end customers moving to FTTP is that they will require an engineer visit to connect to the fibre network.

In contrast, Mildenhall had a low FTTP footprint, therefore end customers’ voice services were moved to SOGEA if FTTP was not available. For these, the underlying connection was to remain copper and an engineering visit was not always required.

Any remaining WLR* lines that did not have any voice or broadband usage over the previous six months (April 2023 to September 2023), and had additionally been under service degradation measures with no contact into Openreach to address these assets (unless they had an exemption granted by Openreach), were ceased.

Openreach applied the ceases on 31 October 2023, and a managed cease was then automatically triggered for any associated broadband.  CPs with impacted WLR lines for cessation, were issued letters outlining their impacted assets on 8 September 2023.  

We agreed not to cease any assets that had been used for either voice or broadband between April 2023 and September 2023, or where we did not have usage data. For these assets we removed service degradation where it was currently applied and recommenced rental charges for FTTC on 1 November 2023 if not already recommenced.  Openreach reserve the right to undertake further measures on these assets and are reflecting on future migration policies as we near the 31 January 2027 deadline.

These end customers continue to be our priority.  CPs worked hard to identify them and apply for exemptions where necessary.  We also worked with councils and wider industry to help identify vulnerable end customers with health pendants who were exempted from service degradation measures and cessations.

If you are a special services hardware provider please visit our Digital Services test lab page, to find out more about testing your products in an environment which emulates some of the conditions found when an analogue line migrates to a digital line as part of the All IP Programme. This is important because all lines will need to be migrated by 31 January 2027.

Openreach worked closely with CPs, wider industry including Local Authorities and MPs, special service providers, Government, Ofcom and the OTA2, to understand (on a smaller scale via the trials) how CPs could safely migrate end customers – with a particular focus on the vulnerable reliant on health care devices, Critical National Infrastructure and more complex sites.  

We run monthly steering boards, bi-monthly working groups, have dedicated web pages on our CP Portal, issue newsletters and regularly write to CPs in the trial areas.  We also have a team of dedicated migration managers who work hand in hand with our account managers and business development managers to help CPs with their migration planning.

Subscribe to our mailing list to receive invites to the bi-monthly working groups and to receive the All IP newsletter.

In January 2023 we could see that most people in Salisbury and Mildenhall had upgraded to a fibre-based phone or broadband service but, at the same time, there were a small number of end customers who hadn’t upgraded, despite multiple attempts to contact them. This included using channels like postcards, letters, emails, door knocking, drop-in clinics, calls and lots of local media coverage.

For that reason, we decided to extend the trial period by six months allowing more time to test and review further measures to prompt end customers to have a conversation with their provider about their future service. The trials were extended to 31 October 2023.

From 24 April 2023, Openreach implemented service degradation measures.   These measures allowed end customers to continue with a minimal WLR or FTTC service.   If the end customer made contact, the CP could then either place an order to move them to FTTP (or an All IP alternative if not available) or apply to Openreach for an exemption.  Service degradation measures were removed on 31 October 2023.  

For further details covering our post-trial learnings for the service degradation measures, please refer to the Salisbury and Mildenhall All IP trials Post Implementation Review (PIR) which can be found here.

Openreach and CPs worked hard on raising general awareness in the trial areas.  We ran a test and learn campaign in March 2022 in Mildenhall where we sent postcards, ran a social media campaign and had Openreach experts on hand to talk to members of the public. You can find further campaign details and postcard examples further down the page under ‘trial policy documentation’.

We sent postcards to affected end customers in Salisbury in July 2022 asking them to contact their Communications Provider.  We also sent postcards in January 2023 and March 2023 to affected end customers in both Salisbury and Mildenhall. 

We engaged with both local councils to raise awareness within the local communities.

CPs also organised their own ‘raising awareness’ campaigns with ‘drop-in’ sessions, social media posts, town hall events, podcasts, mailings and various other channels to spread the word.