Openreach's migration discounts now run to the PSTN's final day: 31 January 2027

30 September 2026. With 123 days to go until the UK's copper phone network closes on 31 January 2027, Openreach has taken away the last financial excuse for staying on it: the free and discounted migration offers that were due to expire on 31 October will now run until the network's final day. Providers still working through the tail of 1.2 million unmigrated lines — around 350,000 of them business premises — can keep using the subsidised routes to move customers without paying connection charges.

What has actually been extended

The offers give retail providers free or discounted connections when moving customers off WLR — including voice-only WLR Solus lines — onto IP-era equivalents such as SOGEA (data-only FTTC broadband) and MPF / SOTAP lines. They were due to end on 31 October 2026; the latest industry briefing confirms they now run right up to 31 January 2027. For ISPs, the economics of the final quarter no longer get worse as the deadline nears. For a business customer, the practical meaning is blunter: your provider has no cost reason left to leave you where you are.

Four extra months of cover is not four extra months to wait

The switch-off date has not moved. Lines that miss 31 January 2027 fall back on Openreach's eVAC safety net, confirmed last week: essential calls only, from £35 a month at wholesale, temporary by design. Copper rental has been climbing all year, and the engineers who do the physical moves will be at their scarcest in the final weeks. Voice-only Solus lines — the kind quietly feeding fax machines, door entry and older alarm panels — are among those that stop first. Moving early also buys you a parallel working service to test against, instead of a cold cutover in January.

Keep the number, leave the line

For most business single lines, the asset worth carrying is the number, not the copper. Porting it to a virtual number moves inbound calls onto IP — answered on mobiles or a free SIP phone and softphone, with forwarding, voicemail-to-email and business-hours routing included, from free pay-as-you-go to a £9.97-a-month Pay Monthly plan. One month of eVAC costs what three and a half months of that plan does. Panels that signal over dial-up — fire and intruder alarms, TAP messaging — need a managed IP route instead: see the OpenTAP gateway and our Redcare closure explainer.

Related: The PSTN switch-off guide · 350,000 business lines still on copper