February 25th 2025
Transferring from an analogue telephone system to a fully digital system is going to require a complete upgrade of every telephone exchange in the country, the biggest telecommunication upgrade in recent history. The move is part of a plan to switch off the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), which has been in operation for decades. Every premises in the UK that is affected by this switch-off will be contacted by their own communications provider when they are ready to move. They may be moved to fibre service, or a similar copper service if fibre isn’t available. Eventually Openreach aims to get to full fibre to as many premises in the UK as possible in the years to come.
Most of the telephone exchanges were last upgraded in the 1980’s and that is the last time the equipment was updated. In 2017 BT made the decision to withdraw the old, out of dated equipment within the exchanges. This is because the equipment would quickly cease to work, had reached its lifespan and there is reduced skills in this legacy technology. Initially the target was to do this by December 2025, this has now been extended to January 2027.
Fibre Explained
Fibre to the Premises (FTTP):
This means the fibre optic cable (the super-fast internet cable) goes all the way to your home or building. It’s the best and fastest type of internet because the fibre is directly connected to you, so you get the full speed without any slow-downs from other types of cables.
Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC):
In this case, the fibre optic cable only goes to a local street cabinet (a small box on the street), and from there, regular copper wires (the same kind used for old phone lines) carry the internet signal to your home. It’s faster than traditional copper-only connections, but not as fast as FTTP because the copper wires can slow things down a bit.
In short:
- FTTP = fibre directly to your home (fastest).
- FTTC = fibre to a nearby cabinet, then copper wires to your home (faster than old phone lines, but not as fast as FTTP).
What does this mean for you?
Open Reach have been rolling out a new network of fibre with the larger telephone exchanges, the parent exchanges. The smaller exchanges are supported by the parent exchanges and there are around 5 and half thousand in total around the country. Many millions of homes already have FTTP which has helped speed up use of the internet in our homes. The expansion of fibre broadband has enabled telemedicine and remote healthcare services. With high-speed internet, NHS examinations can be conducted remotely, and medical data can be shared with hospitals quickly, alleviating pressure on healthcare facilities and enabling people to receive care at home.
The majority of houses already have FTTC, that then runs to the telephone exchange. Eventually all houses will have fibre to the cabinet or direct to their premises. However not all those in social care have their phones on the digital system and through the fibre (see special services below).
All phone companies need to move their customers from the old telephone exchanged equipment by end of January 2027 to the new digital systems, which are often fibre based.
It is down to each companies decision who they move you on to, for example could be Sky, TalkTalk or another provider with more recent equipment. This includes fibre if it is available.
Special services
To note that special services (none standard phone use) lines include burglar alarms, fire alarms, lift alarm, CCTV, etc. Each premises must audit what they will need and what currently uses the phone lines. These will all need to be upgraded to a new system.
With the upcoming switch to digital technology, all special services that rely on the old phone lines will need to be upgraded to newer, digital systems. This could involve moving to internet-based (VoIP) systems or using alternative forms of communication (like mobile networks or dedicated data connections). Providers and homeowners will need to work with telecom companies to ensure the systems are compatible with the new technology.
Problem with Fibre
All your services will go through fibre but if there is a power cut and everything goes through the router this means all the services that use the router will also stop working.
Therefore, if you use the router for your burglar alarm, fire, lift alarms etc then they will also stop working unless you have a battery backup.
What will happen on the day of exchange?
Every care home will have a master socket and this will have various extension sockets coming from it, phones, alarms etc. When they are switched over everything coming out from the master socket will not work. It now has to go through the router, the router will come out of the master socket.
The router will be sent to the premises by the phone company and needs to be plugged in to the master socket otherwise they will loose their services. Some phone companies will provide battery backup units free of charge for customers they have listed as vulnerable. Others will charge, and some will just require a mobile phone number.
Key advice
Ensure the correct most up to date router is in place to handle the new telephone exchange equipment otherwise it won’t work. The internet needs to have a strong enough bandwidth for the new services.
You may already have fibre broadband but if your phone isn’t changed to digital you must ensure that it is changed over also.
For further advice and information please visit UK transition from analogue to digital landlines – GOV.UK or the Digital Care Hub website, Digital Care Hub to support Government’s Telecare National Action Plan for digital switchover – Digital Care Hub.
To listen to a webinar on the move from analogue to digital please visit Care providers, are you ready for the move from analogue to digital?
You will also find more information at TSA – TEC Commissioner/Buyer Guidance
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