Goodbye old telephone network, hello new opportunities

By December 2025, the traditional analogue phone network (the Public Switched Telephone Network, or PSTN) will reach the end of its life and newer digital technologies will take its place. 

This means that around 16 million lines and channels will need to be upgraded to alternative products over the next six years.

We’ve spent the last 12 months talking to industry, and recently proposed plans for Mildenhall in Suffolk to become a testbed, giving Openreach, Communications Providers (CPs) and special service providers the chance to test new products and work out how we can migrate people safely and smoothly.

I’m excited about the move to digital, and the opportunities it brings for our customers to develop new products and meet their customers’ demands for decades to come.

Here are some key dates related to our ‘All-IP’ programme:

• December 2018 – We announced that we’d stop selling products which are reliant on the PSTN within five years
• June 2019 – We proposed trial locations to test withdrawal and migration scenarios
• Sept 2023 – We intend to stop selling products reliant on the PSTN
• Dec 2025 – We intend to withdraw all products reliant on the PSTN

Mark Logan Director of Products & Customer Commercial Proposition