PSTN Switch Off: Why EVAc isn’t a failsafe and what you need to do now

Author

Martin White, All-IP & Inbound Product Manager
at Giacom

Time to read

10 minutes

Date published

October 2026

With less than 4 months to go until the PSTN Switch Off, Giacom’s All-IP & Inbound Product Manager, Martin White, explains why the recent Openreach update is not a mere failsafe but the means to successfully upgrade all legacy services ahead of the PSTN Switch Off.

On 24^th September 2026, Openreach announced their plans to tackle the PSTN closure, giving us an insight into what comes after 31^st January 2027. While many were speculating about how we would meet this deadline, Openreach were coming up with a plan that doesn’t involve another delay.

So yes, the PSTN Switch Off is still happening on 31^st January 2027. This means that ISDN Services, Multi-lines, Feature-lines and any Remote Call Forwarding assets that remain live on this date will cease to function and will be terminated.

According to Openreach’s latest report, there are still 14,000 PSTN Multi-lines, 26,000 ISDN2 and 5,000 ISDN30 services waiting to be ceased or migrated. To avoid loss of service, we advise you move these to a SIP solution, underpinned by FTTP or Ethernet.

And that’s only one piece of the puzzle. In total, 1.26 million lines are left to migrate ahead of the 31^st January deadline and 270,000 of these are Business Lines. With the majority of remaining services being single lines, we encourage our partners to consider V-IP Essentials as an alternative. A simple, low-cost voice solution, V-IP Essentials, supported by a future-proof broadband or Ethernet connection, is perfect for SOHO users, small businesses and edge cases.

With just 18 weeks to go until the switch off, Openreach have shared how they’ll be supporting Communications Providers in the final stages of All-IP migration. Below, we break down each element to help you understand the new rules and any tools available to you.

FTTP Priority Relaxation Rules

In February 2026, Openreach relaxed the rules around FTTP Priority exchanges, enabling providers to request that an FTTP Priority flag is lifted for an exchange to enable premises to deploy SOADSL or SOGEA in these exchanges. This initiative was due to end on 30^th October 2026, however Openreach have announced an extension to 31^st January 2027. This extension will help minimise any installation costs to providers and end users, while also ensuring customers receive a better migration experience and less disruption when switching services.

WLR Exceptions Ending

Until now, CPs have been able to raise exceptional orders due to various reasons, including End User Readiness and CP Error, meaning they could deploy WLR-based services in exceptional circumstances. These rules will be removed from end of October 2026, preventing any future provision of WLR-based services. The only remaining exception will be Emergency Restoration of Copper (ERoC), which is only applicable if a migration of a critical service fails and the previous service needs restoring, for example, telecare users.

Price Increases

In December 2025, Openreach announced their intention to issue incremental price increase on WLR services throughout 2026, resulting in an overall increase of 100% by October 2026. Their recent update included a further price increase across both PSTN Basic Lines and PSTN Premium Lines, to come into effect from 1^st February 2027. These new prices will also apply to the Emergency Voice Access (EVAc) product, which will be implemented post-Switch Off.

From 1^st February 2027, any further price increases will be subject to a 28-day notification from Openreach, making it difficult for you to plan for end user communications.

Further changes announced by Openreach include the reduction of Care Levels for WLR3 and EVAc, and the enforcement of deadlines for both WLR Novations and Transfers of Service, and bulk migrations of WLR + FTTC to SOGEA.

What is EVAc?

EVAc is a basic Single Line product that requires a low bandwidth broadband service to support VoIP calls. This solution has been designed for emergency use only; it’s not a failsafe for every remaining WLR line.

On 31^st January 2027, all remaining WLR3 services will be in scope for EVAc, however, capacity is limited and cannot be reserved. The only way to guarantee that your services remain live is to migrate them to an All-IP alternative before the deadline. We recommend moving all your single lines to an IP Voice solution, such as V-IP Essentials, supported by an All-IP connectivity service, as soon as possible to avoid the risk of disconnection.

We’d like to remind you that it’s not just your average phone lines that will be affected. Any edge cases that rely on WLR, such as lift lines, door entry systems, alarms and more, are also at risk. For more about Edge Case Migration, please click here.

Please be aware that EVAc is not a like-for-like replacement for WLR3; it offers only a reduced set of Call Features, including Caller Display, Withhold Number and Anonymous Call Reject among others, but much of the functionality users are accustomed to will be ceased.

How will EVAc be deployed and who qualifies?

CPs and partners will have no control over when their WLR3 assets are migrated to EVAc. Openreach will bucket assets based on exchanges and move on a per-exchange basis. Where possible they will share a rolling path of what exchanges are moving and when, but there are no guarantees on this. They have also stressed that there are no guarantees for successful migrations. EVAc has a limited capacity, and this will likely vary per exchange.

Openreach will do their own analysis on eligibility to see if a PSTN service is being used to support Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) or a Telecare user and prioritise the migration of these services, however this is only based on the data available and may not capture the specific use for every line. We advise that partners get to know what is in their estates and share the detail with Giacom by the end of November, so that we can support the move onto All-IP Solutions ahead of the switch off or share with Openreach for proposed migration of vulnerable assets to EVAc.

If you plan to let Openreach migrate your services to EVAc so that you can later move them to All-IP, it’s important to note that movement off EVAc is not a managed solution. It will require a subsequent All-IP order along with a standalone cease and associated number port where possible, so upgrading ahead of the deadline can help you and your customers avoid further service disruption, with just one migration required.

What happens to legacy broadband services?

EVAc does not support any broadband capability but Openreach have shared that they are looking into the Preservation of Broadband, where they will decouple legacy broadband so that it can operate without the WLR. Much like EVAc, capacity for this will be limited and there is no guarantee this will be available in an exchange. The process is also not expected to come into effect until mid-April 2027, far beyond the January deadline, so we advise that partners don’t rely on this as a means to future-proof their assets.

When a WLR service is migrated to EVAc, the link between the voice and broadband service will be broken, leaving Split CPs at risk. We advise that any partners who own the broadband relationship but not the WLR service either migrate them to SOADSL, SOGEA or FTTP as soon as possible, or flag these services for decoupling ahead of the deadline to avoid loss of service.

It’s also worth noting that Openreach will look to cease any WLR or broadband services that have no call or data traffic.

What should partners do now?

As always, we advise that you migrate all legacy assets to All-IP alternatives as soon as possible. Giacom can support you with base washes, service identification and order placement via our All-IP Managed Service (AIMS) team, who are here to make the journey to All-IP as painless as possible.

We’re also running a range of promotions to help reduce the barriers to All-IP:

Get 3 months free on V-IP Essentials

Migrate your Single Lines to V-IP Essentials Bundled before the end of January 2027 and you’ll get the first 3 months free of charge, helping you avoid the rising costs of WLR while future-proofing your customers.

Broadband Portfolio

Earn cashback on SOGEA and FTTP services across our portfolio, so you can zero-rate installation, pass on the bonus or pocket it for yourselves!

Giacom Easy Switching

With Sky Business Wholesale broadband, you can migrate ADSL and FTTC services to SOGEA with no engineer visit, no new hardware and no complicated reconfiguration required, saving you up to £250 per order.

For more information about what comes next or to speak to our expert teams about how they can help you migrate your base in time, please email aims@giacom.com.