Openreach closes Deddington telephone exchange

Openreach has announced that it has decommissioned Deddington telephone exchange from service in Oxfordshire, as the first of 4,600 telephone exchanges across the UK which are earmarked for closure. This is due to Openreach’s project to close 80% of UK exchanges as they migrate the country away from the copper-based public switched telephone network (PSTN) across to fibre and digital voice.

Deddington is the first of three pilot exchanges, which are closing by the end of November, with Ballyclare in Northern Ireland, and Kenton Rd in London being the other two. The upgrade to fibre from copper allows Openreach to replan its estate as the fibre equipment takes up a lot less space and can work over longer distances, meaning that they do not need as much room for bulky switches and copper wiring. Openreach will be left with 1,000 ‘super digital exchanges’, which they are calling Openreach Handover Points, which will serve the whole of the UK. Each one replaces around 4 or 5 traditional exchanges, or possibly up to 10 in urban areas.

Deddington exchange served 1,800 copper telephone lines for homes and businesses, which have now been upgraded to full fibre and are served by Banbury Exchange. An exchange exit is estimated to take between 4 and 7 years, and the physical migration of services from Deddington took 26 months in total. Whilst live services have been migrated, physical equipment remains, and this will be removed over the next few months, either to be re-purposed as spares or for resale where appropriate.

“Closing thousands of ‘legacy’ exchanges is a major undertaking, with several million services needing to be migrated. Deddington has served as a proof of concept, demonstrating our ability to decommission legacy exchanges safely, securely, and collaboratively.

Moving to this new digital world will ultimately benefit everybody. CPs will be able to serve their customers from fewer exchanges, helping to save costs through consolidation of equipment and reduced space and power requirements. And millions of end users will benefit from more reliable and faster fibre-based services – that will be scalable for decades without needing major upgrades.

It’s not just about switching off old kit—it’s about building a future-proofed, simpler network for the UK.”

James Lilley, Managed Customer Migrations Director, Openreach

Another 12 exchanges have been announced with exit work due to start in April 2026:

• Staines
• Thames Ditton
• Baynard
• Wraysbury
• Nazeing
• Langford
• Allestree Park
• Beacon
• Childwall
• Lundin Links
• Carrickfergus
• Glengormley