The end of Wholesale Line Rental: what are your alternatives?

Openreach is pushing ahead with its plans to shut its traditional public switched telephone network (PSTN) and withdraw the Wholesale Line Rental (WLR) products that rely on it. Openreach will stop supplying new WLR services from 2023.

It aims to complete the switch by 2025, though millions of users will see their telephone service change well before then. In total, 16 million users will have to be moved to new Internet based products.

What does it mean for small business?

What that means is that, when the PSTN shuts down, a number of common telephony products will no longer work. That means small businesses will have to migrate to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) products based on copper or fibre networks or, if fibre isn't available, a new stop gap non-VoIP product based on copper wires (see below). 

The discontinued products include:

• Basic and Premier PSTN lines
• ISDN2
• ISDN30
• Broadband products that rely on these phone line products to work

What are the alternatives?

At the same time, Openreach is rolling out its full fibre (FTTP) and hybrid G.fast networks, both of which will be compatible with VoIP products. Openreach already plans to make three million premises FTTP-ready by 2020, and have seven million customers on G.fast. Zen customers in compatible areas can already switch to FTTP or G.fast broadband.

For small businesses, it is worth thinking about upgrading to the latest VoIP systems now, and not only to get ahead of the game in terms of Openreach's WLR shutdown. VoIP can be run over copper or fibre broadband, but fibre offers a better, more reliable experience.

For many companies, VoIP telephony is more cost-effective, flexible and responsive than traditional phone lines and even ISDN. The main alternatives for business include:

SIP trunking: SIP trunking can partially or completely replace traditional analogue ISDN lines, offering free site-to-site calls, lower connection and rental charges, and the ability to easily connect remote workers. It is a fully converged solution, making it highly flexible and scalable.

Hosted voice: Hosted Voice allows you to tailor your voice solution to the exact requirements of your business. Hosted voice is cost-effective, flexible and hassle-free: your provider manages the infrastructure remotely.


The takeaway here is that all businesses should begin to think about their telephony needs now and how those needs might evolve in the future. Though WLR products will be available until 2025, many small businesses would be better off investing in a more advanced VoIP alternative now. Both SIP trunking and hosted voice will future-proof essential communications and offer a better telephony experience of staff and customers.