Openreach will stop selling copper-based phone and broadband services across another 112 UK exchange areas, cutting off legacy products for more than 619,000 premises. The move is the latest step in the BT-owned network operator's push to move households and businesses onto full fibre connections.

Service providers including BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Vodafone will get 12 months' notice before the new restrictions take effect. That lead time matters commercially: any customer in the affected areas who switches provider, upgrades a package or changes their service after the deadline will land on a full fibre line rather than copper.

How does the stop sell mechanism work?

The rules, known in the industry as "stop sell", trigger automatically once full fibre reaches at least 75% of premises served by a telephone exchange. Once activated, providers can no longer sell new copper-based services in those areas.

The threshold matters for Openreach's retail partners. It effectively forces their product roadmaps onto fibre wherever coverage has matured, rather than leaving the choice of access technology to commercial preference.

The pace is picking up. By 5 November 2026, stop sell restrictions will be active at 1,663 exchanges nationwide, covering around 16.4 million premises. Each wave follows the same pattern: coverage crosses the 75% line, notice goes out to providers, and a year later copper sales in that area end.

What is driving the retirement?

Openreach frames the programme as both a network necessity and a cost decision. James Lilley, the company's Managed Customer Migrations Director, said: "Our stop sell programme is a key step in accelerating the UK's move to a full fibre future. As ageing copper networks become less able to meet modern communications needs, our focus is on helping customers move to faster, more reliable digital technologies."

Lilley also pointed to the economics of running two networks in parallel. "Retiring legacy copper services where fibre is widely available will support the industry-wide migration to modern networks, reduce the cost and complexity of maintaining old and new infrastructure side by side, and help ensure customers are ready for the closure of the PSTN in less than four months' time, when everyone will need a digital phone service," he said.

Why the PSTN deadline looms over this?

The stop sell programme sits inside a wider, regulator-backed transition: the closure of the public switched telephone network. When the PSTN shuts down, every UK customer will need a digital phone service, and copper line rental in its traditional form disappears.

That timeline compresses the migration challenge. Openreach has to move millions of premises onto full fibre before the legacy telephone network closes, and stop sell is the commercial lever that pushes providers and customers to complete the switch rather than stay on ageing lines.

The immediate next milestone comes with the PSTN closure in under four months, after which the 5 November 2026 target — 1,663 exchanges and roughly 16.4 million premises under stop sell — marks the point at which copper sales will have ended across the overwhelming majority of the UK footprint.