First telephone exchange closes in digital switchover

The closure of the Deddington Exchange is part of a pilot

The first of 4,600 telephone exchanges earmarked for closure across the UK has been decommissioned.

Broadband network Openreach, part of BT Group, has shut The Deddington Exchange in Oxfordshire as part of a nationwide shift from copper networks to digital full fibre infrastructure.

It is part of a pilot that includes Ballyclare in Northern Ireland and Kenton Road in London, which are due to close by the end of November.

Openreach's managed customer migrations director James Lilley said the move would "ultimately benefit everybody".

A total of 14 million landlines will be affected by the switch to an internet-based connection.

A survey in 2021 suggested 40% of people in the UK had stopped using them altogether.

Mr Lilley said closing thousands of "legacy" exchanges was 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," he said.

"Millions of end users will benefit from more reliable and faster fibre-based services that will be scalable for decades without needing major upgrades."

Fibre equipment takes up less space than copper, and the upgrade means not as much room will be required for "bulky switches and copper wiring", Openreach explained.

Instead it will be left with 1,000 "super digital exchanges" serving the whole of the UK.