The Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) is due to be switched off by BT Group in December 2025 and as a result our associated Wholesale Line Rental (WLR*) services will need to migrate to All IP by this date.  Ahead of this 2025 deadline we are running 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 and we are currently in the ‘managed migrations’ phase.

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

*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

18 April 2023: Update on planned service degradation measures in Salisbury and Mildenhall – GEN025/23

14 April 2023: Service degradation and restoration process published. See Additional documentation

4 April 2023: End customer postcards in the trials April 2023

17 March 2023: Policy supporting end of trials activity – version 2 published

17 March 2023: Best practice guidance for CPs with assets in scope of service degradation measures published

27 January 2023: Trials extended to October 2023.  Planned service degradation measures begin week commencing 24 April 2023. (GEN009/23) refers.  Full details can be found further down the page.

Both trial areas represent the two main ‘types’ of areas across the UK.  Salisbury represents the areas with a high coverage of Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) (over 75%) and Mildenhall represents the areas with lower FTTP coverage.  Both types need to move to All IP ahead of the PSTN switch-off in December 2025, 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 have FTTP availability which means most copper-based services are being retired. In December 2020 we stopped selling WLR* services. All new orders are FTTP (where available). This means that broadband and voice customers (unless exempt) will need to have migrated to FTTP before the end of the trials 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 has a low FTTP footprint, therefore end customers’ voice services will be moved to SOGEA if FTTP is not available. For these, the underlying connection will remain copper and an engineer visit may not be required.

All remaining WLR* lines that do not have an agreed exemption in place, or are not in the process of migrating will be ceased no earlier than 9 October 2023. CPs will be given 4 weeks’ notice of the cease date. 

These end customers continue to be our priority.  CPs are working hard to identify them and apply for exemptions where necessary; they have already identified and exempted a large number of these end customers.  We’re also working with councils and wider industry to help identify vulnerable end customers with health pendants to exempt from any service degradations 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 the end of 2025.

Openreach works 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 can 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 quarterly All IP newsletter.

The trials are going well with lots of collaboration across the industry. Most people in Salisbury and Mildenhall have now upgraded to a fibre based phone or broadband service but, at the same time, a small number of customers haven’t upgraded yet, despite multiple attempts to contact them. This includes using all manner of channels like postcards, letters, emails, door knocking, drop-in clinics, calls and lots of local media coverage.

For that reason, we’ve decided to extend the trial period and give everyone more time to test and review further measures which nudge customers to have a conversation with their provider about their future service. The trials were due to end in April 2023, they will now run until October 2023.

Openreach plan to implement service degradation measures to prompt end customers to contact their service provider.  The proposed measures will allow end customers to continue with a minimal copper service, giving CPs and end customers the best possible chance to migrate – without the worry of being cut off.

It is important to note that, as part of their own strategies to migrate end customers, CPs may have their own service degradation measures planned including cessations. It is the CPs’ decision when and if they carry out their planned measures.

The hope is the proposed service degradations will ‘nudge’ end customers to make contact with their service provider.  The CP can then either place an order to move the end customer to FTTP (or an All IP alternative if not available) or apply to Openreach for an exemption.

From 27 April 2023:

                          o   FTTC (over WLR) bandwidth reduction to 2Mbps downstream and 0.8 Mbps upstream

From 7 June 2023: Implement Route to Credit Control (RTCC):

                         o   All freephone numbers including 999/112 will still work

                         o   All non-freephone numbers will route to the CP’s designated team

                         o   All incoming calls will be unaffected and the dial tone will still be there

These measures will be implemented in phases to limit a potentially high influx of calls to CPs and also to enable Openreach to effectively manage requests for exemptions  and FTTP/SOGEA orders that should follow.

To reinstate normal service, CPs can request removal of these measures via a formwize once they’ve either placed an order or identified an exemption. CPs do not need to complete a separate exemption request.

Full details on the Service degradation and restoration process can be found under ‘Additional Documentation’.

Openreach and CPs are working 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 parked up on market day with a free hot drinks van and 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 at the end of January 2023 to affected end customers in both Salisbury and Mildenhall and we plan to send more in March 2023. 

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

Many CPs are also running 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.