Yikes. Britain's largest telecom turning off the Plain Old Telephone System in 100 days.

I'm sure there's infrastructure costs, but it is a super reliable fallback. It works when the power goes out. It's used by a lot of emergency services precisely because it's reliable.

https://www.theregister.com/networks/2026/11/01/landline-phones-will-switch-off-across-britland-in-100-days-no-extensions-openreach/5306673