UK's Legacy Phone Exchanges Face Extinction
2025-06-15
Openreach, the UK's network operator, announced the phased closure of 4,600 traditional telephone exchanges. These exchanges, operational since 1879, are becoming obsolete due to the rapid growth of fiber broadband. The closure will happen in stages, starting with 103 of the highest-cost exchanges by December 2030, with the rest to follow in the early 2030s. This marks a significant infrastructure shift, with Openreach prioritizing the protection of vulnerable customers and critical national infrastructure providers during the transition.