Openreach Stop Sell expands to 112 more full-fiber exchange areas

Openreach Stop Sell rules are being extended to another 112 exchange areas, limiting broadband providers from selling legacy copper-based services to premises that can already order full-fiber broadband. The move is part of BT’s wholesale network unit pushing the UK market off copper and onto digital connections, a shift that affects service providers, business line customers and consumers still using older access products.

The newly disclosed locations make up the 25th tranche of exchange areas notified for Stop Sell. Openreach applies the rule when 75 percent of premises served by an exchange can access fiber-to-the-premises, or FTTP. That threshold is based on availability, not uptake, so it does not mean three-quarters of local premises have moved to full fiber.

Openreach said customers at addresses that cannot yet receive FTTP are not covered by the restriction. Those users can remain on existing copper-based services until full fiber becomes available to them.

What is Openreach Stop Sell?

Stop Sell is Openreach’s mechanism for cutting off new sales of older copper products at addresses where FTTP is available. Providers can no longer sell those legacy services to eligible premises, although the rule is tied to address-level availability rather than whether the customer has already migrated.

By August 20, Openreach said Stop Sell rules will be active in 1,572 exchanges across the UK, covering about 15.4 million premises. The company said that represents roughly 57 percent of its total fiber footprint.

The company also claims its engineers are adding around one million further premises to the network every three months. Its stated targets are 25 million premises by the end of 2026 and 30 million by 2030. Openreach did not disclose in this announcement how many of the premises covered by Stop Sell have actually switched to FTTP.

The copper switch-off is also about phone lines

Openreach is also reminding customers that the UK’s legacy analog PSTN phone service is scheduled to be retired by January 31, 2027. The company expects UK users to have moved to a digital phone service by that date, ahead of the broader removal of copper lines in favor of fiber.

The PSTN deadline was previously set for the end of 2025. BT and Openreach extended the timetable while addressing issues affecting vulnerable users, including elderly customers and people using telecare alarms that depend on the phone network.

James Lilley, Openreach’s managed customer migrations director, said the company is phasing out copper-based services where fiber is widely available so customers and providers move to faster and more reliable digital infrastructure.

Openreach has also been applying commercial pressure to slower-moving business customers and service providers. Earlier this year, it began increasing charges for providers and companies that still operate legacy business lines, with those users set to pay double last year’s rental cost. In February, Lilley said the PSTN analog network was obsolete, harder to maintain and more expensive to operate, and said those costs were being passed on to providers that continue selling legacy products.

Consumers can use Openreach’s postcode checker to see whether full fiber is available at their address.

This story draws on original reporting from The Register.