112 more exchanges named for copper stop-sell — 16.4m premises now inside the fence

14 October 2026. Openreach has named the next 112 exchange areas — covering 619,724 premises — where copper-based phone and broadband products will be withdrawn from sale, taking the total number of notified stop-sell exchanges to 2,325 including trial sites. By 5 November 2026, stop-sell rules will be active at 1,663 exchanges, with around 16.4 million premises now inside the fence. And the clock that matters most is ticking fastest: Openreach says customers must be ready for the closure of the PSTN "in less than four months' time" — 31 January 2027 on the current programme.

How the 12-month stop-sell clock works

The FTTP Priority Exchange programme works on notice: once 75% of premises on an exchange can get Full Fibre, Openreach gives communication providers such as BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Vodafone 12 months' notice. When the notice expires, no new copper-based lines can be sold in that area — customers switching provider, upgrading or making changes are moved to digital alternatives instead. The 112 exchanges named on 8 October will take effect on 4 November 2027. Openreach's Full Fibre build now passes more than 23.5 million premises, and Managed Customer Migrations Director James Lilley framed the move as preparation for the PSTN closing "in less than four months' time, when everyone will need a digital phone service."

Why business lines are the pressure point

Stop-sell does not cut off existing customers — but it quietly removes the escape routes. From the effective date there are no new copper lines, no move-backs to copper for premises on fibre, and no fresh supply for businesses opening a second site or adding a line. Roughly 350,000 business lines are still running on copper, and with WLR3 exception orders closing on 30 October, the paperwork window is nearly shut. A virtual phone number sidesteps the exchange entirely: calls arrive over IP and route to mobiles, desk phones or a SIP phone or softphone, so a move or a copper withdrawal never takes the number with it.

What to check before your area's date

First, find out whether your exchange is on the list — the tranche-26 exchanges take effect from November 2027, but the programme has been running since 2023 and many areas are already live. Second, if you rely on a line for anything more than voice — alarm panels, door entry, fax, EPOS — plan the migration separately, because those devices fail silently when the analogue network goes. Third, give inbound calls a landing place that does not depend on copper at all. A number that follows the business, on plans from free pay-as-you-go to £9.97 a month, is the cheapest insurance in the programme; the full countdown is tracked in our PSTN switch-off guide.

Related: The last easy copper orders die in 18 days · 350,000 business premises are still running on copper