The PSTN price increase in 2026 lands hardest on 1 July, when Openreach’s wholesale rental on legacy voice-only PSTN linesrises by a further 40% on top of April’s 20% rise. A third rise of 40% follows on 1 October. By the autumn, the published Openreach pricing path has roughly doubled the cost of a voice-only line compared with early 2025.
Openreach is running a free PSTN migration offer for voice-only lines placed between 8 June and 31 October 2026, on the condition that migrations complete within 30 days of the offer closing. That makes June the practical decision month for most UK SMEs still sitting on legacy lines.
Below: what changes on 1 July, who the Openreach offer covers, what to check before you migrate, and why waiting for the January 2027 switch-off is now the most expensive option on the table.
The PSTN price increase comes in three rises across 2026
Three rises are scheduled across 2026. Openreach has published a phased increase in legacy line rental to reflect rising maintenance costs on a network being retired.
| Date | Increase | Cumulative effect |
| 1 April 2026 | +20% | 1.20x |
| 1 July 2026 | +40% | 1.68x |
| 1 October 2026 | +40% | 2.35x |
By the time the October rise lands, a voice-only PSTN line will cost more than double what it cost in early 2025. None of that is optional and none of it is reversible. It is the published Openreach pricing path until the network is switched off.
The Openreach free PSTN migration window
Openreach’s free migration offer covers voice-only PSTN lines and is available for migrations placed between 8 June and 31 October 2026. The migration itself must complete within 30 days of the closing date. For a UK SME with one or two analogue lines used only for voice, this is a clean path off the network at no Openreach cost.
The offer is narrower than it first sounds. It does not cover multi-line setups with broadband bonded to the same circuit, lines used for ADSL or FTTC alongside voice, or lines feeding alarms, lift telephones, door entry systems or card terminals. Those need a proper migration plan, not a swap of provider.
Our ISDN switch-off checklist covers the device-by-device audit most businesses skip and then regret on cutover day.
What you migrate to
For a business voice line, the natural replacement is a cloud-hosted phone system running over your existing broadband, or over a SoGEA line if the circuit has been doing both voice and data. A SoGEA broadband connection gives you the same physical link without the underlying voice path, which removes the PSTN cost entirely.
Most SMEs migrating now also bring in unified communications, so calling, chat and meetings sit on one platform. That is a bigger decision than a like-for-like line swap, and it should not be made under deadline pressure. Starting in June gives you the room to make it properly.
What about the January 2027 deadline?
The national PSTN switch-off date is 31 January 2027. Industry coverage of the migration phase reports engineering capacity is already tightening. More than 500,000 UK businesses are still on legacy lines. The closer to the deadline you migrate, the longer you wait for an engineer and the more months you pay an inflated line rental while you wait.
Waiting also rules out the free migration offer, which closes at the end of October 2026.
Two patterns we see across the North East
The first is professional services and clinics with a single back-of-house line that nobody has thought about in a decade. Those are the cleanest candidates for the Openreach offer.
The second is older industrial and hospitality sites with mixed services on the same site: alarm dialler, lift line, card terminal, ordering line. Those sites need a migration plan rather than a phone call to a provider. Get the audit done early.
What to do this month
A practical sequence for June 2026:
- List every line at every site, including alarms, lifts, door entry and card terminals.
- Check each line’s contract type and whether it is voice-only or carrying broadband.
- Identify which lines are eligible for the free Openreach migration and which need replacement hardware.
- Choose a replacement: hosted phone system, SoGEA plus VoIP, or a full unified communications platform.
- Schedule the cutover before October to stay inside the offer window.
If that list looks heavier than expected, that is normal. Most businesses underestimate how many devices quietly depend on a line until they walk the site.
Plan the migration before the July price rise
The 1 July rise is the second of three. The Openreach free migration window closes on 31 October. Waiting beyond the autumn means paying more for a line you will need to replace anyway, on a tighter timetable, with less engineering capacity available.
If you would like us to audit your lines and check which qualify for the free Openreach migration, book a phone system migration audit and we will produce a one-page switch plan with eligible lines, replacement options and a cutover date that beats the next price rise.