UK network operator Openreach has pushed back the closure of two telephone exchanges (aka central offices) by almost a year.

First reported by ISPreview, BT’s infrastructure arm has confirmed new closure dates for the two legacy exchanges in Ballyclare and Kenton Road, in Northern Ireland and London.

Originally due to close at the end of November 2025, the two telephone exchanges are now due to cease operations on November 2, 2026. Each exchange serves around 9,500 premises.

Openreach is closing 4,600 exchanges across the UK as part of its copper network shutdown. The Ballyclare and Kenton Road sites are part of an initial pilot program to close three exchanges and work out potential roadblocks and complications.

The first exchange in the pilot – the Deddington Exchange in Oxfordshire – closed in November 2025. The planned closures were first announced in 2020.

ISPreview reports that there are currently fewer than 300 lines left to move across on both exchanges. All Openreach communication providers – ISPs using Openreach infrastructure – need to be out of the exchanges by the new end date.

BT subsidiary Openreach currently operates some 5,600 telephone exchanges across the UK; most of those are for copper and other legacy services, with the company operating its fiber service from around 1,000 newer exchanges, known as Openreach Handover Points (OHPs). On average, each OHP replaces four to five traditional exchanges, with some OHPs replacing ten or more in some inner-city locations.

Openreach aims to close more than 100 legacy exchanges by December 2030, with the rest closing in the early 2030s. Each exchange exit is expected to take four to seven years, depending on the size and complexity of each facility.

Work to exit another 12 exchanges was due to start in April 2026. These include exchanges in Staines, Thames Ditton, Baynard, Wraysbury, Nazeing, Langford, Allestree Park, Beacon, Childwall, Lundin Links, Carrickfergus, and Glengormley.

Almost all of the group’s exchange footprint is owned by UK real estate firm Telereal Trillium, which acquired the majority of BT’s real estate portfolio back in 2001 for £2.3bn. Over the years, Telereal (now operating as TT Group) has sold a number of exited BT offices and several exchanges, with most converted into residential developments.

DCD has covered BT & Openreach’s copper shutdown and exchange exit program in depth, read more here.