The UK telephone network that weaves throughout the country is going through a major technological change.
This national network has been the backbone of our communications for over a century, linking our homes and businesses across every village, town, and city. However, we have now reached a turning-point where we need to move away from the 140-year-old copper-wire network and bring everyone onto a modern internet-based network. This new network will eventually use fibre optic cables instead of copper wires to transmit your telephone calls and internet traffic far more efficiently, enabling additional services to operate.
Everyone needs to be migrated to internet-based telephony by 2025 when the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) will be switched off. If a premise hasn’t got fibre optic cables in time, then a hybrid system of fibre and copper will be used to provide broadband to premises around the UK to enable internet voice services. This huge change will affect everyone in the UK, and we will all have to adapt.