The next two exchange closures are 39 days away — and business lines go first

On 2 November 2026 — 42 days from today — two UK telephone exchanges reach their Network Cease Date: Ballyclare in Northern Ireland and Kenton Road in London. Openreach has instructed communication providers to get all lines, including backhaul, off both exchanges by 30 October — 39 days out. They follow Deddington in Oxfordshire, the first of Openreach's roughly 4,600 exchanges to complete a full exit, and the pilot that sets the pattern for 108 exchange closures by the end of 2030.

What a Network Cease Date actually ends

An exchange exit is not one switch thrown at midnight — it runs for years, from a stop sell of legacy products through migration onto FTTP or SOGEA, ending when the network itself ceases. When Deddington closed it was carrying around 1,800 copper lines; at the last update, fewer than 300 lines still needed moving across both pilot sites, largely customers providers had not managed to migrate. Physical kit removal then takes several more months. The point of the pilot is to prove the playbook before it scales to the 105 or so "priority exchanges" scheduled behind it.

Why businesses should assume there is no safety net

Consumer landline users have formal protections and providers work hard not to disconnect them mid-migration. Business lines do not enjoy the same cover — ISPreview's reporting notes they are "more likely to be disconnected on the deadline". If your firm still has a number served from a closing exchange, the practical question is not whether the line dies but whether you keep the number. Porting is free of direct charges, as we covered in Ofcom's porting rules, and a DIDcomms virtual number keeps the published number answering over IP — with forwarding, voicemail-to-email and business-hours routing — from a SIP desk phone or softphone.

The 39-day checklist

1. Audit what is actually on the line. Alarm panels, fax, door entry and EPOS fallback connections routinely hide behind a voice line — each needs its own route off copper before 31 January 2027, now 132 days away.
2. Port the number, then cancel the line. Port first to a virtual number, then cease the copper rental; the sequence matters more than the provider you pick.
3. Give alarm signalling an IP route. Panels that still dial out over TAP can move to DIDcomms' OpenTAP gateway over TCP/IP at 5p a message — no line rental at all.

Related: The PSTN switch-off guide · 141 days left: the PSTN countdown begins