Openreach has announced that 95 new locations across the UK will soon be affected by the switch-off of traditional copper landlines. The move is part of the transition to fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) technology, which offers faster broadband and digital voice services.
The so-called 'stop sell' alerts mean that new customers and those upgrading their deals in these areas will no longer be able to sign up for copper-based services. This applies when 75% of premises connected to a local exchange can access full fibre.
Affected locations include major cities such as Manchester, London, Nottingham, and Portsmouth, as well as numerous towns and villages across England, Scotland, and Wales. A full list is available on the Openreach website.
Existing users will not be immediately affected, but the long-term goal is to migrate all customers to fibre. Benefits of the upgrade include broadband speeds up to 10 times faster than copper, clearer phone calls, and features like spam call blocking and call diverting to mobile phones.
Openreach's James Lilley stated: 'The stop sell programme is a critical part of ensuring that the UK's communication infrastructure is ready to meet the demands of the future.' He added that it makes no sense to maintain both copper and fibre networks side by side.
Customers can check their postcode on the Openreach website to see if full fibre is available in their area. Those not yet able to access fibre can remain on copper until the upgrade reaches them.
