Four UK Switch-Offs Are Running at Once. Only One of Them Needs You.
Four separate national transitions are running at once in UK telecoms: the analogue phone network is being retired, the price cap on copper broadband is being withdrawn, 2G mobile is being switched off, and terrestrial television is under consultation. Eleven dates fall between now and 2034. One of them requires you to do something.
Somewhere in Britain tonight there is a pendant alarm round somebody's neck, plugged into a phone socket, that will stop being able to call for help. Not in 2034, and not because of anything dramatic. Because of an administrative date in January 2027 that the person wearing it has never heard of. That is the only genuinely urgent thing in this article, and it is one row out of eleven. We looked for a single UK page listing every telecoms deadline between now and 2034 and could not find one, so we built it: four separate national transitions, eleven dates, each sourced, each marked for how certain it actually is. Ten of the eleven require nothing from you at all, and saying so plainly is more useful than another article telling you to act now.
Every date on this page was checked on 14 September 2026, and we re-check them quarterly. Several are set by companies rather than by regulators, which means they can move, so a table like this is only worth anything if somebody keeps it current. We do.
What this page is. A reference, not an explainer. It gives you the dates and tells you which matter; it does not explain each transition in depth, because each already has its own guide and those are linked from the table. Bookmark this one and use it to find the others.
The master table: every date, how certain, and whether it needs you
Direct answer: eleven dates across four transitions. One requires action. Read the certainty column, because the difference between "confirmed" and "proposed" is the difference between planning and speculating.
| Date | What happens | Certainty | Needs you? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 31 January 2027 | The analogue phone network is switched off. All voice moves to digital. Guide | Confirmed | Yes |
| End of 2027 | The BBC's Royal Charter expires, and with it the multiplex licence tied to it | Confirmed | No |
| 31 March 2028 | The UK Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme ends. It closed to new applications on 31 August 2026 | Confirmed | No |
| 1 April 2028 | Openreach can begin issuing the twelve-month notices that lead to copper price rises | Confirmed | No |
| 1 April 2029 | The price cap on copper broadband can be lifted, at addresses where fibre is available. Guide | Confirmed | Watch |
| May 2029 | EE begins switching off its 2G network | Announced | Only if you have a 2G device |
| Summer 2029 | O2 begins switching off its 2G network | Announced | Only if you have a 2G device |
| During 2030 | Vodafone switches off its 2G network. Three has no 2G network to switch off | Announced | Only if you have a 2G device |
| 31 December 2030 | The Freeview multiplex carrying every HD channel reaches the end of its licence. Guide | Confirmed | No |
| From 2031 | Full deregulation of copper services could begin. Criteria not yet set | Proposed | No |
| 31 December 2033 | All UK 2G networks retired at the latest, by agreement with government | Confirmed | Only if you have a 2G device |
| End of 2034 | The remaining Freeview licences expire. Switch-off proposed but not decided | Proposed | No |
The highlighted row is the only one that requires anything from a household. Sources: Ofcom, GOV.UK, Openreach and the mobile network operators. Full references at the foot of this page. Dates marked Announced are set by companies and can move; dates marked Proposed are under consultation with no decision taken.
Which of the eleven are actually yours?
Direct answer: three questions decide it, and most households answer no to all three.
Three questions, thirty seconds
1. Is anything plugged into a phone socket besides a telephone? An alarm, a pendant, a medical device.
If yes: 31 January 2027 is yours, and it is the one that matters.
2. Are you on copper broadband rather than full fibre? If your broadband arrives over a phone line, including SOGEA, the answer is yes.
If yes: 1 April 2029 is yours, and only if fibre has reached your address.
3. Does anyone have a device with a SIM that is not a smartphone? A pendant, a tracker, an old basic handset.
If yes: one of the 2029 to 2033 rows is yours, depending on network.
Three noes? Then none of the eleven dates requires anything from you. You can close this page, and that is a legitimate outcome rather than a failure to engage.
What happens if you do nothing?
Direct answer: for ten of the eleven, nothing whatever. For the eleventh, a device that was supposed to call for help does not. That asymmetry is the entire point of this page.
| If you ignore | What actually happens to you |
|---|---|
| 31 January 2027 | Your phone service is migrated for you and almost certainly works. But an alarm or pendant on that line may silently stop being able to call out, and nobody finds out until it is needed |
| 1 April 2029 | Possibly a higher bill, eventually, if your provider passes on a wholesale rise. You would get notice, and a right to leave without penalty if the change is material |
| The 2G dates | A smartphone is unaffected. An old basic handset stops working. A 2G-only alarm or tracker stops working, again with no warning from the device |
| The Freeview dates | Nothing, for years, and possibly nothing ever. No decision has been taken and terrestrial TV is guaranteed to at least the end of 2034 |
| Everything else | Nothing. These are things that happen to the industry, not to you |
Read the pink rows. Both are the same failure mode: a device with no screen, no alert and no way of telling anyone it has stopped working, belonging to somebody who is relying on it. Everything else on this page is administration. That is the difference worth carrying away.
Why is 31 January 2027 the one that matters?
Direct answer: because of what is plugged into phone sockets. When the analogue network goes, anything that used it to call for help goes with it unless somebody has dealt with it, and the devices in question have no way of telling you they have stopped working.
Care alarms and telecare pendants. Monitored intruder and fire alarms. Lift emergency phones. Some older medical devices. Most have been migrated already, but "most" is not "all", and the consequence of being in the remainder is not an inconvenience.
There is a second element people miss. A digital phone line does not work in a power cut unless there is battery backup, because it depends on your router. An analogue line drew its power from the exchange and carried on working when the lights went out; a digital one does not.
If you find something plugged into a phone socket, here is what to do with it. Ring whoever monitors or supplied it, not your phone company, and ask whether the device is ready for 31 January 2027 and what happens to it in a power cut. For a council or housing association alarm, ring them. Get the answer in writing. Our switch-off guide covers who must provide battery backup and how to ask for it, and our care alarm guide goes through the devices one by one.
What happens on 1 April 2029?
Direct answer: the price cap on copper broadband can start coming off. Ofcom decided on 9 September 2026 that from that date, Openreach may raise the wholesale price of copper in exchange areas where ultrafast coverage reaches 90%, and only at addresses where full fibre is actually available.
This is the date in the table with the clearest financial consequence, and it is the least reported of the four transitions. Its logic is deliberate: making copper more expensive is how the industry persuades the last customers to move to fibre so the old network can eventually be turned off.
Two things protect you, and both are worth knowing now rather than in 2029. If full fibre has not reached your address, the cap on your copper service stays in place, in Ofcom's own words, even after the exchange qualifies. And if the copper cap does come off where you are, a cap applies to fibre instead, so nobody on the Openreach network is ever left with no price protection at all.
The group most affected is one nobody has told. Millions of households were moved from ADSL onto SOGEA during the phone switch-off, and SOGEA is a copper broadband product. Three providers asked Ofcom to protect those customers from these price rises; Ofcom declined. Our full guide sets out what that means.
When does 2G switch off, and does it affect me?
Direct answer: it depends on which network you are actually on, not on a single national date. EE from May 2029, O2 from summer 2029, Vodafone during 2030, and all UK operators by the end of 2033. Three has no 2G network at all.
For most people this is a non-event. A modern smartphone falls back to 4G or 5G without anyone noticing, and 3G has already gone entirely, with the last UK network completing its shutdown in early 2026. If your phone still works today, 3G going has already not affected you.
It matters for two groups. Anyone still using an older basic handset that only supports 2G, which includes a lot of second phones kept in drawers for emergencies. And, far more importantly, anyone with a device that quietly depends on a 2G signal without them ever thinking about it: telecare pendants, monitored alarms, vehicle trackers, some payment terminals. Estimates put the number of UK devices still dependent on 2G or 3G at over two million.
There is a cruel overlap here worth flagging. Some households moved a care alarm off the landline onto a mobile SIM precisely to escape the phone switch-off. If that SIM is 2G-only, they have moved from one deadline to another. We have written that up separately in our guide to which network you are actually on, which includes the table mapping every mobile brand to its host network and therefore its real date.
Is Freeview being switched off?
Direct answer: no date has been set and nothing has been decided. A consultation closed on 31 August 2026 and the government has not yet responded. Terrestrial television is guaranteed until at least the end of 2034.
This is the transition with the most alarming headlines and the least certainty, which is exactly the wrong way round. Two options were consulted on: a move to internet-delivered television by 2034, or an extension into the 2040s with the platform shrinking from six national multiplexes to three.
The date in the table that surprises people is 31 December 2030. Freeview is not one licence but six, and the multiplex carrying every HD channel was renewed only to the end of 2030, four years earlier than the rest. A licence expiring is not a service ending and it may simply be renewed again, but it is the nearest real date in the whole story and almost nobody has reported it. Our guide sets out the layered timeline and, more usefully, the fact that internet television needs only about 10 Mbps.
Why is all of this happening at once?
Direct answer: coincidence of timing, identical reasoning. Every one of these is a decision to stop running two networks to do one job.
Copper alongside fibre. 2G alongside 4G and 5G. Terrestrial broadcasting alongside internet delivery. In each pair the older network costs real money to maintain, serves a shrinking minority, and occupies something valuable, whether that is physical infrastructure or radio spectrum that could carry far more if reallocated.
The awkward part, and the reason these debates get heated, is that the shrinking minority is rarely a random sample. The people still on copper in 2029, still using a 2G phone in 2030, or still relying solely on an aerial in 2034 will skew older, poorer and more rural than the population as a whole. Every one of these transitions has an equality impact assessment attached to it saying so. That does not make them wrong, but it does explain why each comes with charters, protections and long notice periods, and why the arguments about them are worth having.
- Every one of these has years of notice, unlike most changes in most industries.
- Only one requires action from a household, and it has a public awareness campaign behind it.
- Price protection follows you from copper to fibre rather than disappearing.
- Nothing here requires you to buy equipment.
- Devices on a phone line or a mobile SIM that nobody thinks about until they fail.
- Whether copper price rises reach retail bills from 2029.
- The government's response to the television consultation.
- People using these dates as a pretext to sell you something.
What should I actually do today?
Direct answer: two things, and the second one quietly answers three of the four transitions at once.
Twenty minutes, and then nothing until 2029
1. Walk round and look at what is plugged into a phone socket. Alarms, pendants, medical devices, anything with a cable going into the wall. If you find something, ring whoever monitors it and ask whether it is ready for 31 January 2027. If you help an older relative, do theirs too.
2. Find out what broadband is available at your address. Thirty seconds, and it tells you whether the 2029 copper price cap applies to you, whether you are ready if television moves online, and what you would do if you wanted to leave your provider. Three answers, one check.
3. If you have a mobile device that is not a phone, note which network it is on. A tracker, an alarm, a meter. That determines its 2G date, and most people have never thought about it.
And then stop. Genuinely. Bookmark this page, diarise nothing else, and get on with your life. Nothing else on the table needs you.
Free and independent. One check, three answers.
What should I not do?
Direct answer: do not buy anything because someone told you a switch-off is coming. Not an aerial, not a television, not a phone, not a router, not a "digital upgrade". Nothing on this list requires new equipment for a typical household.
This deserves its own section because these dates are the single most useful gift a cold caller has been handed in years. A real deadline, reported in real newspapers, that the customer has vaguely heard of and does not fully understand, is the perfect opening. We have already seen doorstep callers in hi-vis vests claiming to represent a government broadband scheme and asking for payment to register.
So hold two rules. No government scheme has ever taken payment from a householder. And nobody legitimate needs money from you at your front door, on a cold call, or in an email with a link. If you are unsure, close the door or hang up and ring the company on the number printed on a bill you already had. Our scam update has the full list of what is doing the rounds and where to report it.
In summary
- Eleven dates between 2027 and 2034, across four separate national transitions. One requires action from you.
- 31 January 2027: the analogue phone network is switched off. Check anything plugged into a phone socket, especially alarms.
- 1 April 2029: the copper broadband price cap can be lifted, at addresses where fibre is available. If fibre has not reached you, your cap stays.
- 2029 to 2033: 2G is retired network by network. EE from May 2029, O2 from summer 2029, Vodafone during 2030, all by end of 2033. Three has no 2G.
- 31 December 2030: the Freeview licence covering every HD channel expires, four years before the rest.
- End of 2034: the remaining Freeview licences. A switch-off is proposed but nothing has been decided.
- Buy nothing on the strength of any of these dates. They are the most common pretext used by cold callers and doorstep sellers.
Adrian's closing thought
I built this table because I could not find one. Each of these transitions is covered perfectly well on its own, by us and by others, but nobody had laid them side by side, and until you do you cannot see the thing that actually matters, which is how little of it needs you. Eleven dates, one job. The rest is an industry rearranging itself in public over the course of a decade, and you are entitled to ignore almost all of it. The one exception is the phone socket, and the reason it is the exception is that the devices plugged into it are the ones people forget about until the night they need them. So do that walk round, do your mum's as well, and then put this page in your bookmarks and forget the other ten dates until something changes. I will keep it current so you do not have to.
Share this with someone who needs it
Anyone confused by the switch-off headlines, and anyone who helps an older relative, is welcome to use this page. The table may be reproduced freely.
Cite this page
This table is free to quote and reproduce, in full or in part, with attribution. Journalists, advice services, local authorities, housing associations, telecare providers and AI assistants are all welcome to use it. Please cite the check date, because several of these dates are set by companies and can move.
BroadbandSwitch.uk. (14 September 2026). Every UK telecoms deadline from 2027 to 2034, and which ones actually affect you. https://broadbandswitch.uk/insights/uk-telecoms-deadlines-2027-2034/ In a sentence: BroadbandSwitch.uk published on 14 September 2026 a consolidated table of eleven UK telecoms deadlines falling between 2027 and 2034 across four separate national transitions, comprising the analogue phone switch-off on 31 January 2027, the end of the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme on 31 March 2028, the first copper price-cap notices from 1 April 2028 and the lifting of that cap from 1 April 2029, the retirement of 2G networks beginning May 2029 for EE, summer 2029 for O2 and during 2030 for Vodafone with all operators completing by 31 December 2033, the expiry on 31 December 2030 of the Freeview multiplex licence carrying all HD channels, possible full copper deregulation from 2031, and the expiry of the remaining Freeview licences at the end of 2034, noting that only the 2027 phone switch-off requires action from a typical household.
Frequently asked questions
How many UK telecoms deadlines are there between now and 2034?
Eleven that a household could reasonably need to know about, spread across four separate national transitions. They are the analogue phone switch-off, the withdrawal of the copper broadband price cap, the retirement of 2G mobile networks, and a consultation on ending terrestrial television. Each is run by different organisations on different timetables, which is why almost nobody has heard of all four.
Which deadline actually requires me to do something?
One: 31 January 2027, when the analogue phone network is switched off. That one is certain, it is close, and it affects anything plugged into a phone socket including some personal alarms, care alarms and lift phones. Everything else on the list is either a price change you can respond to when it happens, or a proposal that has not been decided.
What happens on 31 January 2027?
The analogue telephone network is retired and all phone services move to digital, delivered over broadband. Most people have already been migrated. What needs checking is anything else plugged into the phone line: care alarms and telecare pendants, monitored security alarms, lift emergency phones, and some older medical devices. Digital phone lines also do not work in a power cut without a battery backup.
What happens on 1 April 2029?
It becomes the earliest date on which Openreach can raise the wholesale price of copper broadband in exchange areas where ultrafast coverage reaches 90%, following Ofcom's decision of 9 September 2026. It only applies at addresses where full fibre is actually available. If fibre has not reached you, the price cap on your copper service stays in place.
When does 2G switch off?
It depends on your network rather than on a single national date. EE begins from May 2029, O2 from summer 2029 and Vodafone during 2030, with all UK operators committed to completing by the end of 2033. Three has no 2G network at all, so its customers are unaffected. 3G has already gone completely, with the last UK network finishing in early 2026.
Is Freeview being switched off in 2034?
No date has been set. A government consultation closed on 31 August 2026 proposing either a transition by 2034 or an extension into the 2040s with a smaller platform, and the response has not yet been published. Terrestrial television is guaranteed until at least the end of 2034. There is an earlier date worth knowing: the licence covering every HD channel on Freeview runs only to 31 December 2030.
How certain are these dates?
They fall into three groups and the difference matters. Confirmed means a decision has been taken and a date published, as with 31 January 2027 and 1 April 2029. Announced means a company has stated its own timetable, as with the individual 2G dates, which can move. Proposed means it is under consultation with no decision, which covers the terrestrial television options. Treating all three as equally solid is how people end up acting too early.
Why is all of this happening at the same time?
Because the same logic applies to each. Running two networks in parallel to do one job is expensive, and every one of these transitions is a decision to stop doing that: copper alongside fibre, 2G alongside 4G and 5G, terrestrial broadcasting alongside internet delivery. The older network in each pair costs money to maintain and serves a shrinking number of people. The timing overlap is coincidence; the reasoning is identical.
Will any of this cost me money?
Possibly, in two ways, neither of them immediate. From 1 April 2029 the wholesale price of copper broadband can rise where fibre is available, and whether that reaches your bill is your provider's decision. If terrestrial television eventually ends, watching TV would require a broadband connection, which is an ongoing cost where an aerial is not. The phone switch-off and the 2G retirement should not cost a typical household anything.
What should I do today?
Check anything plugged into your phone socket, because that is the only genuinely urgent item. Then find out what broadband is available at your address, which quietly answers three of the other four transitions at once. Then diarise nothing else, because no other date on the list requires action from you and buying equipment now on the strength of a future switch-off is the main way people lose money over this.
What should I not do?
Do not buy anything because someone told you a switch-off is coming. Not an aerial, not a new television, not a phone, not a router. Nothing on this list requires new equipment for a typical household, and a future deadline is the most common pretext used by doorstep sellers and cold callers. If someone contacts you about any of these dates and wants a payment, that is a scam.
References
- House of Commons Library. (2026). Switching off 2G and 3G in the UK (Research Briefing CBP-9959). Retrieved 14 September 2026, from https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9959/
- ISPreview. (2026, June 23). Gov consults on UK plan for terrestrial TV switch off and broadband support. Retrieved 14 September 2026, from https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2026/06/gov-consults-on-uk-plan-for-terrestrial-tv-switch-off-and-broadband-support.html
- Ofcom. (2024). Switching off 2G and 3G: what you need to know. Retrieved 14 September 2026, from https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-and-broadband/coverage-and-speeds/3g-switch-off
- Ofcom. (2026, March 17). Statement: Promoting competition and investment in fibre networks, Telecoms Access Review 2026-31. Retrieved 14 September 2026, from https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-and-broadband/telecoms-infrastructure/statement-promoting-competition-and-investment-in-fibre-networks-telecoms-access-review-2026-31
- Ofcom. (2026, September 9). Statement: Approach to the copper retirement second threshold calculation, Telecoms Access Review 2026-31. Retrieved 14 September 2026, from https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-and-broadband/telecoms-infrastructure/approach-to-the-copper-retirement-second-threshold-calculation-tar-review-2026-31
- RXTV. (2025, December 8). Freeview HD services saved from imminent closure. Retrieved 14 September 2026, from https://rxtvinfo.com/2025/freeview-hd-services-saved-from-imminent-closure/
- UK Government. (2026). Future of TV distribution stakeholder forum papers. Retrieved 14 September 2026, from https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/future-of-tv-distribution-stakeholder-forum-papers
Written by Adrian James, Broadband Editor at BroadbandSwitch.uk (LinkedIn). Reviewed by Dr Alex J. Martin-Smith (LinkedIn). Published 14 September 2026, last verified 14 September 2026. This page is maintained: dates marked Announced are set by companies and can move, and dates marked Proposed are under consultation with no decision taken. We update it whenever any of them changes. This guide is information, not advice.