What's happening
Openreach is retiring the UK's old analogue phone network. On 31 January 2027, all traditional phone lines go digital.
Digital phone lines run over a broadband connection instead of the old network. For a business, that means two jobs: moving your phone calls, and moving everything else that uses a phone line.
Openreach says lines that haven't moved by the deadline may go onto a temporary emergency voice-only service, or stop working altogether. Its guidance for businesses names CCTV, alarms, payment terminals and lift systems as equipment to check.
Start with a list of your lines
Find every phone line your organisation pays for, including the ones nobody thinks of as phones. Your bills list them, and your provider can tell you what each one is.
- Main and direct-dial numbers
- Lines into lifts, alarm panels and gate intercoms
- Fax lines
- Lines at other sites, such as a warehouse or plant room
- Broadband that shares a phone line, which our broadband guide covers
The device checklist
Intruder and fire alarms
Many alarm panels call a monitoring centre over a phone line. Ask your alarm company whether yours does, and to move it to a signalling method that doesn't need a traditional line. Then check an alarm still reaches the monitoring centre.
Lift emergency phones
The phone in a lift car is a safety feature and often has its own line. Your lift maintenance contractor upgrades it, so book them early.
Card machines
Older payment terminals dial out over a phone line, while most current ones use broadband or mobile data. Ask your payment provider which yours are, and replace any that dial out.
Door entry
Some intercoms ring through a phone line when a visitor presses the button. Your installer can move them to a network or mobile connection, and we check them as part of our door access and CCTV surveys.
Franking machines
Some top up postage credit over a phone line. Ask the supplier to move yours to broadband.
Fax
Find out whether anyone still uses it. If they do, a fax-to-email service replaces the line. If not, cancel it.
CCTV and monitoring
Some systems send alerts, or connect to a monitoring station, over a phone line. Check with your installer, or see our door access and CCTV page.
Telecare and health devices
Pendants and monitors for staff or residents may rely on a phone line. Check with the supplier before anything moves, because these protect people.
Test before you cancel
Move each device, test that it works on its new connection, then cancel the old line. Cancelling first is how an alarm goes quiet without anyone noticing.
Keep a record of each test, with the date and who did it.
Power cuts
Digital phone lines need power at your end, so they stop in a power cut unless the router, and any phone or device plugged into it, has backup power. If a line carries an alarm or a lift phone, check how long its backup lasts.
Where we can help
We move business phones to Microsoft Teams Phone or Webex, keep your numbers, and move each line to digital once everything on it has moved and been tested. Read more about our business phone systems.
Sources
- Openreach, Switching off the PSTN across the UK (opens in a new tab)
- Openreach, Switching your business to digital (opens in a new tab)
Common questions
When is the PSTN switch-off?
31 January 2027. Openreach says all traditional phone lines go digital on that date.
Will my alarm work after the switch-off?
It may not, if it signals over a traditional phone line. Ask your alarm company to move it, then test it.
Can I keep my business phone numbers?
Yes, in almost every case. Your numbers move to the digital service or to a cloud phone system.