In order to encourage customers to switch to new digital services over a fast full fiber connection, Openreach has announced 238 additional exchange sites, totaling 1.69 million places throughout the United Kingdom. In these locations, the company intends to stop selling traditional copper-based phone and broadband services.
When full fiber becomes available to the majority (more than 75%) of premises in these new exchange locations, the company is giving communication providers that use its network, including Sky, BT, TalkTalk, and Vodafone, a year’s notice that it will no longer be selling legacy analogue products and services.
When 75% of the locations linked to a specific exchange are able to receive fast full fiber, a stop sell is initiated. Customers will then need to use Openreach’s new complete fiber network to switch, upgrade, or re-grade their phone or broadband service.
Consumers in these exchanges who are now unable to obtain fast full fiber at their locations won’t be affected and can continue using their current copper-based service until full fiber is made available.
By June 5th, 1,432 exchanges in the UK will have implemented stop sell regulations. This means that approximately 14.2 million locations, or 61% of Openreach’s entire full fiber footprint, are under active stop sell, meaning that full fiber is available to the majority of locations and copper products cannot be sold.
“Our stop sell program is an essential step in accelerating the UK’s transition to a modern full fiber future,” stated James Lilley, head of managed customer migrations at Openreach. Getting people onto newer, future-proofed technologies is the immediate goal as copper’s capacity to handle modern communications diminishes.
“By phasing out legacy copper-based services in areas where fibre is now widely available, we’re ensuring customers and providers move onto faster, more reliable, digital infrastructure.
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 now just under eight months away, by which time everyone will need a digital phone line.”
