By Jake Boase, ATS Connection

On 31 January 2027, the analogue telephone network that has served Britain for more than a century is switched off for good. The date has already moved once, from December 2025, and Openreach has since confirmed it will not move again.

Most business owners hear this and think it is a phone problem. It is not, and that is where the real risk sits.

It is not just your phones

The analogue network does more than carry calls. A great deal of everyday business equipment quietly runs over the same copper lines, and much of it will stop working.

That includes card payment terminals, intruder and fire alarms, lift emergency phones, door entry systems, some CCTV, gate barriers and telecare alarms. Businesses that have never given their phone line a second thought often find they have four or five other things plugged into it.

For a shop, that could mean no card payments. For an office building, a lift with no working emergency line. For a care setting, an alarm that no longer calls for help. These are not inconveniences, and some carry legal and insurance implications.

The cost is already rising

Two things are worth knowing now rather than in late 2026.

First, legacy line rental prices are increasing in stages through 2026. Businesses that stay on copper are paying steadily more for a service with a fixed end date. Doing nothing is no longer the cheap option.

Second, you can no longer buy a new analogue line in most areas. Openreach has withdrawn sale of copper-based services across the majority of exchanges, so any business moving premises, expanding or opening a second site is already dealing with the new world whether it planned to or not.

Nationally, around 2.8 million lines still need to migrate, and more than half a million of those serve business premises. That is a considerable queue forming ahead of a fixed deadline.

What actually happens if you do nothing

Openreach has been clear that there will not be a single moment on 1 February 2027 when every line goes dead. Migration is being managed, and providers are moving customers across in stages.

The practical risk is different, and arguably worse. Businesses that leave it late may find themselves moved on their provider’s timetable rather than their own, with little say over the setup they end up with. Some non-migrated lines will fall back to a basic emergency-only service with no normal calling. Neither is a good position for a business that relies on its phones.

What replaces it

The replacement is internet-based telephony, usually called VoIP. Calls travel over your broadband connection rather than a copper line.

In practice, most businesses find the new system better than the old one. Calls can be answered from a mobile or laptop as easily as a desk phone, adding a line does not require an engineer visit, and features such as call recording, voicemail to email and proper call routing are standard rather than expensive extras. Running costs are usually lower.

The one genuine requirement is a reliable internet connection, and a plan for what happens if it drops. That is worth thinking about properly rather than assuming it will be fine.

Four things to do now

None of these need to be expensive, and all of them are easier in 2026 than in 2027.

• Audit what is actually connected. Walk the building and find every device using a phone line. The alarm, the lift, the card machine, the fax nobody admits to still using. This is the step most businesses skip and the one that prevents the nasty surprises.
• Check your contract dates. If your phone contract runs beyond early 2027, speak to your provider about what happens and when they intend to move you.
• Check your broadband. If your connection is slow or unreliable, that needs solving before it becomes your phone system as well.
• Plan the move for 2026. Number porting typically takes around two to three weeks in normal conditions, and considerably longer when everyone leaves it to the final months. Moving early means you choose your timing, your provider and your setup.

The opportunity in it

It is easy to treat this as unwelcome admin, but a good number of Chichester businesses are still running phone systems specified a decade or more ago. The switch-off is a reason to look at how the business actually communicates now, with hybrid working, mobile teams and customers who expect a call answered wherever you happen to be.

Handled early, it is a straightforward upgrade. Handled late, it is a scramble.

The businesses that will barely notice 31 January 2027 are the ones that sort this during 2026.

Openreach publishes its own guidance on the programme at openreach.com.

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Jake Boase is Director of ATS Connection, an IT, cyber security and telecoms provider based in Chichester & Arundel. A fuller guide to the switch-off, including a checklist of equipment to look for, is available at atsconnection.co.uk.