Fixed voice lines fell 757k in a quarter to 20.7 million — Ofcom data

23 September 2026. Ofcom's latest Telecommunications Market Data Update confirms what the switch-off headlines promised: in Q1 2026 the UK's stock of fixed voice lines — PSTN lines, ISDN channels and managed VoIP connections counted together — fell by 757,000 (3.5%) in a single quarter, to 20.7 million. The base the 31 January 2027 switch-off will formally retire is shrinking on its own, with the deadline 130 days away.

The revenue slide behind the line count

Revenue is falling faster than the line base: UK fixed voice revenues were £891.9m in Q1 2026, down 5.3% on the quarter and 17.9% year on year. Usage is sliding with it — 3.32 billion fixed-originated minutes in the quarter, down 583 million (14.9%) on the year. Callers are defecting too: mobile-originated calls to landlines dropped 7.2% to 6.07 billion minutes, while mobile text traffic fell 21.3% to 4.61 billion. That is not a plateau; it is structural retreat — the trend that made a fixed national cut-off date survivable.

Migration, not abandonment

The definition matters: Ofcom's 20.7 million "fixed lines" bundles PSTN lines, ISDN channels and managed VoIP. The shrinking number is not just copper being torn out — it is copper being replaced. Broadband demand still grows in the same release (29.4 million lines, up 1.0% year on year); what is dying is rental for a phone call. The practical question is which part of that blend a business sits in. Voice-only lines are the endangered species — and with the first exchanges already closing on 30 October, waiting for the deadline is no longer a plan.

Keep the number, drop the line

The asset worth rescuing is the number, not the rental. Porting an 01/02 landline onto a virtual number service preserves every inbound call, business card and directory listing while the copper rental is cancelled — Ofcom's C7 rules mean providers must port on reasonable terms, with no direct charge to release it and a one-month safety net. Once ported, calls answer over IP: DIDcomms bundles its SIP phone and softphone free with every number, so a line that used to cost monthly rental becomes call forwarding, voicemail-to-email and business-hours routing without any line at all. The Q1 data says most of the market has already made that move; for the remaining copper lines, the only question is whether the port happens on a chosen date or a forced one.

Related: The PSTN switch-off guide · BT hits the 95% Digital Voice milestone