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Openreach (BT) has just published the next batch (Tranche 23) of 132 exchanges in their “FTTP Priority Exchange” stop sell programme – covering 1.23 million premises. This reflects areas where over 75% of premises are able to get full fibre lines and will thus stop selling copper based legacy phone and broadband products (i.e. FTTP becomes the only product option, where it’s available).

Currently, there are two schemes for moving away from old copper lines and services, which can sometimes cross over a bit. The first starts with the gradual migration of traditional legacy voice (PSTN / WLR) services to digital all-IP technologies (e.g. SOGEA), which is due to complete by 31st January 2027 and is occurring on both copper and full fibre products (i.e. ISPs are introducing digital voice / VoIP services). The national “stop sell” on legacy phone services began on 5th September 2023 (here).

The second “FTTP Priority Exchange” programme involves the ongoing rollout of gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) lines – using light signals via optical fibre instead of electrical signals via slow copper lines. Only after this second programme has largely completed (75%+ FTTP coverage) in an exchange area can you really start to completely switch-off copper-based products, which will come later as you have to allow lots of time for natural customer migrations.

Between the scrapping of legacy phone services, the full fibre rollout and the gradual switch away from copper lines themselves, this process will take several years in each area to complete, and the pace will vary (i.e. some areas have better coverage of Openreach’s full fibre lines than others). Just to be clear, though, premises that can’t yet get FTTP will continue to be served by copper-based broadband products.

132 New Exchange Locations (Tranche 23)

In this programme, the migration process away from legacy services starts with a “no move back” policy (i.e. no going back to copper) for premises connected with FTTP, which is followed by a “stop-sell” of copper services to new customers (12-months of notice is given before this starts and that is what today’s list represents). This stage is then followed by a final “withdrawal” phase, but that comes later.

The stop sell is applied at premises level, so it shouldn’t impact you if you don’t yet have access to FTTP, although edge-case conflicts may still occur due to rare quirks of network availability.

The 132 exchanges confirmed today takes the total number of exchange upgrades, by mid-February 2026, that have already been placed under active “stop sell” rules to 1,281 – reflecting 12.5 million premises or around 51% of Openreach’s full fibre footprint. The stop sells in today’s list will become effective from 12th February 2027.

James Lilley, Openreach’s Managed Customer Migrations Director, said:

“Our stop sell programme is a vital step in accelerating the UK’s transition to a modern full fibre future. As copper’s ability to support modern communications declines, the immediate focus is getting people onto newer, future proofed technologies.

By phasing out legacy copper-based services in areas where fibre is now widely available, we’re ensuring customers and providers move onto faster, more reliable, digital infrastructure. This approach not only reduces the cost and complexity of having to maintain both old and new networks but also supports the industry-wide migration ahead of the legacy copper-based Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) now just over 12-months away, by which time everyone will need a digital phone line.”

The operator also has a Stop Sells Page on their website, which makes it easy to see all the planned changes. Otherwise, the following list is tentative, so changes and delays will occur (exchanges can and are often shifted around into different tranches).

132 Stop Sell Exchanges in Tranche 23

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Network operator KCOM, which has deployed their Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across a big chunk of East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire in England, has today announced that they’ve promoted Richard Schäfer to the position of permanent Chief Executive Office (CEO) to replace Tim Shaw, who stepped down last year (here).

Richard originally joined KCOM in February 2025 as Chief Finance Officer (CFO), before stepping up as interim CEO six months ago after Tim left. Clearly KCOM’s board were happy enough with his performance to retain him in the role on a permanent basis.

Richard has more than 25 years of history working in senior leadership roles within the domestic UK and international telecommunication sector, including roles at Three UK, Vodafone UK, Onecom, Lebara and most recently the Lyca Group where he was Group CEO.

KCOM Chairman, Richard Greenleaf, said:

“We’re grateful for Richard stepping into the CEO position last year. His commercial background, financial acumen, deep understanding of telecoms and his passion for delivering KCOM success make him the right person to take the company forward.”

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Broadband and mobile giant BT (EE) has today announced that they’re following the UK government’s latest guidance, which requested that they “proactively move customers onto price changes with clear pounds and pence pricing amounts instead of inflation-linked rises“. But the risk is that this may result in some customers being hit by much bigger mid-contract price hikes in the future.

In case anybody has forgotten, there’s currently a growing storm circling around the policy that Ofcom introduced at the start of 2025. The change required telecoms providers to adopt a new approach to mid-contract price hikes, which did away with the old percentage and inflation-based model – replacing it with one that sets out such price hikes “clearly and up-front, in pounds and pence, when a customer signs up” (here). This made annual price hikes clearer and more transparent, but it also hit those who could least afford it with much bigger price hikes.

Most providers initially adapted to the new policy by following BT’s early example, which in 2024 – before the rules came into force – started setting out a new pricing policy that increased the monthly price broadband customers paid by a flat £3 extra from March or April each year (varying a bit between providers). Mobile providers often adopted the same approach, albeit usually via smaller increases.

However, a degree of controversy started to occur last year after BT (here) – followed by other providers (Vodafone, TalkTalk, Virgin Media etc.) – then increased the amount of their mid-contract hikes from £3 to £4, which seemed at least partly intended to reflect the fact that inflation had remained higher than originally forecast. But BT and most other providers only applied this to new customers (as well as some re-contracting subscribers).

One of the reasons why this approach has become so unpopular, despite the noted improvement in pricing transparency, is because it deliberately hits those who can least afford it the hardest For example, somebody on a cheaper plan, paying say c.£20 per month, gets hit with the same £4 rise in April every year as those on the most expensive packages, which could be paying £50-£70 or so per month. The change doesn’t scale, so people with cheaper plans are penalised.

Government intervention

The Government did initially appear to be taking a tougher line over all this (here), which occurred after O2 took the unusual approach of forcing their recent over-inflation hike in mid-contract pricing on to existing customers (here). Initially, the government seemed to hint that Ofcom should consider stopping the practice, only to later retreat by saying they had “no plans to ban in-contract price rises” (here).

Adding to the feeling of the government being tone-deaf on the issue, they then called on telecoms operators to “take proactive steps to move legacy customers onto the pounds and pence approach for price communications“. This is despite what we’ve just said above about the reality that, for some consumers, the old CPI + X% policy will actually be resulting in customers paying lower mid-contract hikes than the new pounds and pence one.

Extract from the Government’s Letter to Industry

The commitments that industry has made through the Digital Inclusion Action Plan, and wider efforts, such as the provision of the lower cost social tariffs are vital in supporting vulnerable and digitally excluded consumers. However, it is clear that more needs to be done to protect all consumers. Ordinary people should feel empowered when engaging with the sector and confident they are getting a good deal.

We are asking you to reinforce your commitment to treating customers fairly, including by confirming customers under contract will not face price rises beyond those that they signed up to. We would also like you to take proactive steps to move legacy customers onto the pounds and pence approach for price communications with no impact on the timing of planned price increases.

In a new blog post today, BT has confirmed that they’re “very supportive of the Government’s call” and “will begin moving those customers who contracted with us before we introduced our pounds and pence approach onto these terms as part of our price change this year“. Once again, there’s lots of focus on the transparency benefits, albeit without much consideration for the negatives of Ofcom’s required policy.

BT’s Statement

We have listened and will begin moving those customers who contracted with us before we introduced our pounds and pence approach onto these terms as part of our price change this year. This change means all our customers will benefit from a transparent approach to pricing, aligned with Ofcom and Government priorities.

We will be initiating our 2026 price change for these out of contract customers from 1st March. The date when this price change will apply will be confirmed in each customer’s price change notification.

To be clear these customers moving to pounds and pence terms are outside of the minimum term of their contract with us and will not be entered into a new minimum term contract. We are also not adjusting the annual price change for customers within the minimum term of their contract, something that has been heavily scrutinised recently.

We will be contacting customers in the coming weeks with specific information relating to their pricing.

Breaking news.. more to follow..

Original article ISPreview UK:Read More

Over the past few months a number of broadband ISPs have announced an increase to their annual mid-contract price hikes policy of £4 (BT, Virgin Media and TalkTalk etc.). But a new Opinium survey of 2,000 UK adults, which was conducted during December 2025 for Uswitch.com, claims to have found that 24% of broadband users view such a rise as “unmanageable“.

Not that anybody needs reminding, but at the start of 2025 Ofcom began requiring telecoms providers to adopt a new approach to mid-contract price hikes, which did away with the old percentage and inflation-based model – replacing it with one that sets out such price hikes “clearly and up-front, in pounds and pence, when a customer signs up” (here). This made annual price hikes clearer and more transparent, but rarely cheaper.

In response, many providers later followed BT’s lead by setting out a new pricing policy that increased the monthly price broadband customers pay by a flat £3 extra from March or April each year (varying a bit between providers). However, as above, inflation has remained higher than originally anticipated and, partly as a result of that, many of the markets largest players have since announced that they will increase their annual hikes (e.g. several have jumped from £3 to £4).

Suffice to say that there is a growing feeling among consumers that ISPs are becoming increasingly unfair in their pricing practices, not least by hitting those who can least afford it the hardest (e.g. somebody on the cheapest plan gets hit with the same £4 rise as those on the most expensive ones). The new survey estimates that some mobile and broadband customers could thus be set to face hikes of up to 13.4% as a result of the recent changes.

The survey claims that 24% of broadband customers would view a £4 monthly mid-contract increase as “unmanageable“. On average, consumers say they would only tolerate a £2.70 broadband increase before considering switching. But we know from real-world data that, in reality, only around 1.62 million consumers actually switched their fixed broadband and phone provider between Sept 2024 and 2025 (here).

Mobile users face a similar squeeze. Some 19% of bill payers say they would struggle with a £2.50 monthly rise in their bill, whilst 17% say they would not accept any rise at all. Finally, a third of respondents (32%) say they now spend more mental energy worrying about utility bills than they did two years ago, while 19% say they tolerate such increases but are also actively looking for a reason to leave.

The good news is that there are plenty of fixed and mobile providers that have shunned the trend toward mid-contract price hikes and instead used fixed price contracts. But this often comes from smaller providers and alternative networks, which are often unfamiliar brands and, in some cases, may not be available to every location.

The Government did initially appear to be taking a tougher line over all this and even seemed to hint that the practice could be stopped (here), only to later retreat by saying they had “no plans to ban in-contract price rises” (here). Despite this, Ofcom have still been directed to take another look at the issue, although few people expect the regulator to tackle the issue effectively.

In case anybody has forgotten, before the global COVID-19 pandemic, it was often normal for mid-contract hikes to push up prices by around 5-7% per year (averaged), which ran for many years while CPI itself typically fluctuated between around 1% and 2.5%. Suffice to say, it’s hard to shake the feeling that some providers may have realised they can get awake with even larger hikes and appear to be continuing the trend.

However, it is still important to recognise that network operators often do still have to increase prices due to costs rising in other areas, such as for service provision, regulation, energy and the need to invest in new network upgrades etc. But it’s not strictly necessary for this to be done mid-contract, and such pricing only makes the market more complex and confusing.

On the bright side, switching between telecoms providers has been made significantly quicker and easier in recent years, thanks to systems like One Touch Switching (OTS) on broadband + landline phone or Text-to-Switch (Auto-Switch) on mobile. Consumers can often vote with their feet if they choose, but many remain wary of doing so.

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Network access provider Openreach (BT), which is currently busy investing £15bn to deploy Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband technology to 25 million UK premises by the end of 2026 (currently 21m premises passed), has today announced that they’ve promoted Garret Kavanagh to be their new Managing Director for Complex Engineering, effective April 2026.

Garret began his career as an engineering graduate at BT Group in 2006 and, since then, has built plenty of experience across a number of field operations and service delivery roles. For the past four years he has led Openreach’s Northern Ireland division, where he and the team have taken full fibre coverage to more than 90% of the country – one of the highest coverage levels anywhere in the UK.

Openreach’s website currently lists Andy Whale as their Chief Engineer and Managing Director of Complex Engineering, but after today’s news Andy will still retain the title of Chief Engineer, leading a team focused on engineering standards and innovation.

Clive Selley, CEO of Openreach, said:

“Garret’s been running our Northern Ireland team with distinction – so he’s more than ready to step into this critical role for Openreach. In Complex Engineering, Garret will focus on leading the team to finish the UK build, as we get into more complex, rural and remote areas. He will also continue to transform and enhance our Ethernet business – which provides critical connections for public and private sector customers all over the country.”

As part of these changes, Openreach Northern Ireland will also be moving from the Commercial unit to be hosted by Complex Engineering. The recruitment process for a new Director of Northern Ireland is already underway. Lauren McGaughey will continue to lead the team in an acting-Director capacity, a role she has held since Garett went on Family Leave in Spring 2025.

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The ITS Technology Group, which have deployed various open access and business-focused full fibre broadband and Ethernet networks across parts of the UK, recently published their annual accounts and revealed an expansion of their network length by 13%, as well as a 12% increase in coverage and a 99% rise in take-up (on-net grew 77% and off-net grew 30%).

The operator’s full fibre network was last year said to “pass” more than 465,000 UK businesses (inc. commercial premises), and they often claim to “reach the rest” through their trusted operator partners’ infrastructure, which includes the likes of BTWholesale, Sky, PXC and Virgin Media Business. The new results don’t provide an update on that figure or state exactly how many customers they have, but we do get a lot of financial data.

According to the latest results to the end of 2024 (accessible via ‘ITS (HOLDCO) Limited‘), turnover has increased to £34.48m (2023: £26.85m), while gross profit jumped 47.6% to £16.42m (2023: £13.56m) and the company reported a lower operating loss of -£14.22m (2023: -£16.5m). Total assets less current liabilities then increased to £186.82m (2023: £150.97m) – primarily due to fixed asset additions in the year of £44.13m.

ITS also saw a 33% increase in active network partners, while there was a 29% reduction on ‘Mean Time to Provide’, as the connection volume increased in the year. The Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) has similarly grown by 7%, although we don’t get an exact figure for this and other network stats. Finally, the company was home to a total of 238 employees during the year, which is up from 199 in 2023.

Daren Baythorpe, CEO of ITS, said:

“The directors have received a letter of support from the ultimate parent undertaking confirming its intention to provide financial support to enable the Group to meet its liabilities as they fall due for a period of 12 months from the date of approval of these financial statements.

On this basis, the directors have concluded that the group will be able to meet its liabilities as they fall due and a reasonable expectation that the Group has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future, and therefore continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing these financial statements.”

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Carlisle-based alternative broadband ISP Grain, which has so far built their point-to-point full fibre (FTTP) network to cover 270,000 UK premises (aiming for 600,000 in the future) and in 2025 secured a £225m funding boost (here), has issued a brief announcement to confirm that the South Yorkshire (England) city of Sheffield will be the next to get their network.

The choice of adding Sheffield, which is home to around 560,000 people, is an interesting one because the city already has a fair bit of access to gigabit-capable broadband networks by Openreach (BT), Virgin Media (inc. nexfibre) and CityFibre (although CF only covers around half of it). After that there’s some modest to smaller coverage from FullFibre Ltd (Zzoomm), Hyperoptic, ITS Technology, Pine Media and even some recent build from little-known Giggle Fibre (Giggle remains odd as they’ve still not put any services live after several years of building).

As usual, Grain hasn’t revealed precisely how many premises they intend to cover in the city or when their build will complete, although they do confirm that the “build begins soon, with first customers going live next year“. We’re actually a little surprised that the first customers won’t go live until next year, as it usually only takes Grain a month or two to start putting the first connections live after the build starts.

Less of a surprise is the fact that, according to local street works data, their initial deployment focus will be around the Western side of the city in the Crookes area. This part of the city doesn’t have so many altnets to worry about, with Grain’s main competitors being the established players of Openreach and Virgin Media. Grain will no doubt be hoping that their lower cost approach to build and cheaper consumer pricing can disrupt the area in their favour.

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News

The cuts follow lay offs in other markets, including France, Canada, and Spain

This week, telecoms giant Ericsson has announced it is preparing to cut around 1,600 jobs in its home market of Sweden, citing the need to remain competitive.

The mobile network equipment maker currently employs around 14,500 people in the country, with the reduction therefore representing more than 10% of the companies domestic headcount.

“The proposed staff reduction is part of global initiatives to improve cost position while maintaining investments critical to Ericsson’s technology leadership and the execution of the strategy to deliver high-performing, programmable networks that enable differentiated services and new monetization opportunities,” said the company in a press release. “Initiatives to increase operational efficiency will continue across the Group but will not be announced separately.”

According to Ericsson, negotiations are underway with relevant Swedish trade unions.

Ericsson has been facing financial headwinds in recent years, primarily driven by strong international competition and underwhelming 5G demand. This, coupled with the disastrous acquisition of API specialist Vonage for $6.2 billion in 2022, saw the company initiate streamlining efforts in 2023, including cutting 8,500 jobs.

No additional cuts were announced until 2025, when Ericsson revealed a sting of layoffs in its overseas offices. In summer, Ericsson announced plans to cut around 300 jobs in Spain; in September, around 100 ‘technical jobs’ in Canada were on the chopping block; and in December, reports suggested the company also planned to lay off around 134 jobs in France.

Of course, Ericsson is not alone in facing these financial pressures – or to be responding with significant downsizing. The company’s Scandinavian rival Nokia is notably in the process of cutting 14,000 jobs by the end of 2026, in an effort to save around €1.2 billion, with around 700 jobs in France and Germany being the latest to be excised.

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City-focused full fibre (FTTP/B) broadband ISP Hyperoptic, which claims to have already deployed their gigabit fibre network to cover 1.9 million UK homes, has today announced the appointment of Emma Dark as Customer Experience and Service Director, and Nemanja Zec as Head of Customer Service Operations to “support the next phase of growth“. Improvements to support are also coming.

The operator, which is home to 400,000 active subscribers (9th Jun 2025), is currently going through a strategic shift that has seen their own network build switch to focus more on commercialisation. At the same time, they’re also working to harness Openreach’s growing national FTTP network in order to reach other parts of the UK (here), which will go live during early 2026 and may result in an influx of new customers.

The new appointments are clearly intended to play into the company’s new strategy. Emma will lead Hyperoptic’s end-to-end customer experience strategy, spanning sign-up, installation, service and ongoing support. Meanwhile, Nemanja will focus on strengthening day-to-day service delivery, embedding consistent standards and supporting their ambition to “deliver reliable, human-centred service at scale“.

The alternative internet provider added that they were “continuing to invest significantly in its digital and service capabilities to support growth at scale“. This includes enhancements to ‘myAccount’, its website and chat services, the “introduction of generative AI to support contact centre agents“, and the replacement of legacy systems with “future-proof technologies” such as Amazon Connect and ServiceNow.

Lutfu Kitapci, Hyperoptic CCO and Managing Director of ISP, said:

“As we continue to grow, delivering a consistently excellent customer experience is essential. While digital journeys play a critical role in making things faster and simpler for customers, we strongly believe that great service also means being there, person to person, when it really matters.

Our strong five-star Trustpilot reviews reflect the progress our teams have made to date, and Emma and Nemanja bring a powerful combination of strategic and operational expertise that will help us continue to raise standards, blending smart technology with genuine human care.”

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Broadband and telecoms giant BT has announced that their EE mobile network has secured a major new contract with the UK’s largest airline, easyJet, to deliver thousands of mobile connections to keep its flight crew, aircraft and airports linked up across Europe – in 35 countries and over 150 airports (from Gatwick to Gran Canaria).

The deal means that EE expects to provide a total of 23,000 mobile connections to support easyJet’s operations. The airline will use the EE network to connect a range of devices and will enable all pilots and cabin crew to “seamlessly access flight information and real-time training on the go“.

All devices will be equipped with eSIMs to provide a more efficient way to remotely manage mobile connectivity and reduce costs. BT will also support easyJet to:

➤ Deliver smart messaging to keep customers updated on their flight.

➤ Connect iPads that pilots and crew use to provide real-time flight information.

➤ Connect smartphones, mobile phones and aircraft phones to allow seamless communication between airline colleagues.

➤ Provide laptops and other hardware for workers.

Chris Sims, Chief Commercial Officer at BT Business, said:

“This partnership with easyJet is about delivering the smart, seamless connectivity which is crucial when operating at scale.

By equipping thousands of devices with eSIMs on EE’s award-winning network, we’re enabling easyJet to manage connections remotely, switch networks across borders, and reduce the complexity of traditional SIMs.

It’s a future-ready solution that enhances security, boosts efficiency, and keeps teams connected when they need it most.”

Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like this will make easyJet any less likely to cancel your flight at the very last minute, causing the usual chaos and confusion as everybody opens the app at the same time in an attempt to find an alternative flight – one that hopefully isn’t at a completely different airport hundreds of miles away or several days away in the future.