Yes. The UK's old analogue landline network, known as the PSTN (the copper phone network), is being switched off. According to Openreach, the final deadline is now locked at 31 January 2027, after several earlier delays. And since April 2026, Openreach has been raising prices on legacy copper lines specifically to push businesses to migrate before the deadline: legacy-line prices rose 20% on 1 April 2026 and a further 40% on 1 July 2026, with another 40% rise due on 1 October 2026, roughly doubling the cost of legacy line rental compared with 2025.
In other words, the question isn't whether landlines are being discontinued. It's how quickly you move off the old network, and what you move to. Around 1.9 million UK lines were still on the old network as of mid-2026, several hundred thousand of them business lines.
What Exactly Is Being Discontinued?
The thing being retired is the copper PSTN network: the physical infrastructure that has carried UK phone calls for over a century, not phone numbers themselves. Your landline number is not being discontinued: numbers port across to digital alternatives, so a business can keep the same number it has always advertised. What stops working is anything that runs over the old copper lines: traditional analogue landlines, ISDN lines, and ADSL and FTTC broadband that runs over copper.
That distinction matters, because a lot of the worry around the switch off comes from businesses assuming they'll lose the number customers know. They won't. But they do need to move that number onto something that isn't copper before 31 January 2027.
What Should a Small Business Do About It?
A small business still on a copper landline should plan its move now rather than wait for the deadline. The price rises on legacy lines mean staying put gets more expensive every quarter, and leaving it late risks a rushed migration, or losing calls while a replacement gets sorted. The practical steps are simple: check whether your current line is analogue or ISDN, decide what should replace it (a digital VoIP line, a mobile-based service, or a virtual number), and port your existing number across so customers notice nothing. BT's default replacement is Digital Voice, and we've broken down BT Digital Voice costs and changeover dates if that's the route you're weighing up.
The replacement doesn't have to look like the old setup. If you were sold a dedicated handset or a second device as the "official" answer to the switch off, it's worth knowing that's only one option, and often the clunkiest one. We've written before about BT One Phone and why you don't need a second phone. BT's specific One Phone product was withdrawn in March 2026, a related but distinct deadline from the general PSTN switch-off covered here.
The Switch Off Doesn't Matter If Your Landline Lives on Your Mobile
Solofone gives UK small businesses a proper landline number that rings on the mobile they already carry, with no copper line, no desk phone, no BT One Phone-style second device. Because a Solofone number never touches the copper network, the PSTN switch off is a non-issue: there is nothing to migrate, no engineer visit, and no deadline hanging over it.
Solofone also puts WhatsApp Business on that same landline number, so customers can call or message one number and it all arrives on the one phone in your pocket. For sole traders and small teams deciding what to replace a copper line with, that covers both halves of how customers actually get in touch.
If you're weighing up whether you need a landline number at all, or whether a mobile alone would do, our guide on whether a trade business needs a landline or a mobile walks through that decision in detail.
The Bottom Line
Landlines as physical copper lines are being discontinued in the UK, with Openreach's switch-off deadline locked at 31 January 2027, but landline numbers are here to stay. The businesses that come out of this well are the ones that treat the switch off as a chance to simplify: one phone, one number customers already know, calls and WhatsApp in one place.
Want your landline number on the phone you already carry? See how Solofone works.