Openreach has added 163 new exchange locations, covering 1.6 million premises across the UK, where the business plans to stop selling traditional copper-based phone and broadband services to encourage people to upgrade to new digital services over an ultrafast full fibre connection.
The business is giving communication providers such as BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Vodafone, that use its network, one year’s notice that it will no longer be selling legacy analogue products and services where full fibre becomes available to a majority (more than 75 per cent) of premises in these new exchange locations.
Stop sell is triggered when a majority (75 per cent) of premises connected to a particular exchange can get ultrafast full fibre. Customers who then want to switch, upgrade or re-grade their broadband or phone service will have to take a new digital service over Openreach’s new full fibre network.
Customers in these exchanges not yet able to get ultrafast full fibre at their premises won't be impacted and can stay on their existing copper-based service until full fibre becomes available.
By the start of June , stop sell rules will have been activated in 943 exchanges across the UK – meaning that more than 8 million premises will be under active stop-sell – i.e. premises where full fibre is available to a majority of premises and copper products cannot be sold – around 44 per cent of Openreach’s total full fibre footprint.
James Lilley, Openreach’s managed customer migrations manager, said, “We’re moving to a digital world and Openreach is helping with that transformation by rolling out ultrafast, ultra-reliable and future-proofed digital full fibre across the UK. This game changing technology will become the backbone of our economy for decades to come, supporting every aspect of our public services, businesses, industries and daily lives.
“Already, our full fibre network is available to 18 million homes and businesses, with 6.5 million premises currently taking a service.
“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. Taking advantage of the progress of our full fibre build and encouraging people to upgrade where a majority can access our new network is the right thing to do as it makes no sense, both operationally and commercially, to keep the old copper network and our new fibre network running side-by-side. As copper’s ability to support modern communications declines, the immediate focus is getting people onto newer, future-proofed technologies.”