EDUCATION USE CASE

Preparing the Campus for the PSTN Switch-Off

On 31 January 2027 the UK's analogue telephone network is switched off permanently. Universities carry one of the largest and least documented analogue estates of any sector — lines accumulated over decades across laboratories, outbuildings, pavilions, residences and field stations.

That estate divides into two very different problems: lines used by people, and lines used by devices. This use case shows how Tango Extend removes the first entirely, so migration teams can concentrate their remaining time on the second.

At-a-Glance

Role: IT, telecoms and estates leadership
Sector: Higher and further education
Solution: Tango Extend replacing user-facing analogue lines
Timeline: Phased migration ahead of 31 January 2027
Focus: Removing the user half of the analogue estate

Solution Highlights

Retires user desk lines without replacement handsets
No new cabling or on-site hardware
Works in outlying and hard-to-cable buildings
Narrows the migration to device lines only

The Challenge

Openreach stopped selling new analogue and ISDN lines in September 2023, and the network is retired on 31 January 2027. Line rental on legacy services is rising through the intervening period, so doing nothing is not a neutral position.

Universities are unusually exposed. An analogue estate typically grows across decades and dozens of buildings, and very few institutions hold a complete inventory of what is connected and why. Outlying buildings, field stations, sports facilities and older residences are frequently the least documented and the hardest to re-cable.

The Solution

Tango Extend removes the people half of the estate rather than replacing it. Instead of swapping an analogue desk line for an IP desk line — a new handset, a network port and often new cabling — the line is retired and the user's mobile becomes the endpoint on the institution's UC platform.

That is most valuable in exactly the buildings that make these projects expensive. An outlying store, a farm office or a pavilion needs no cabling, no port and no hardware, because coverage follows the mobile network rather than the building.

A clear boundary, stated plainly: Tango Extend does not replace lift emergency phones, fire panel lines or alarm circuits. Those are device lines and need a separate, properly scoped answer. What it does is take the user lines off the list.

The Results

The scope of the migration shrinks. Institutions that begin with an audit and then remove user lines find the remaining device-line project is more tractable, better defined and easier to resource against a fixed deadline.

Capital spend falls. There are no replacement handsets to buy for user lines, and no cabling or port provisioning in buildings that would otherwise be expensive to reach. Recurring cost falls with it, as line rental on retired services stops.

Deadline risk reduces. With the user half removed early, the remaining work is a contained programme rather than an open-ended estate-wide project competing for scarce engineering resource.

Preparing the Campus for the PSTN Switch-Off

Key Results

User-facing analogue lines retired without replacement hardware
No cabling required in outlying buildings
Legacy line rental removed from a large share of the estate
Remaining migration narrowed to device lines

Assessment

Nine questions about your own estate. The ones you cannot answer are the ones worth looking into.

What the estate holds

When was your analogue line inventory last verified in full?
How many lines are used by people, and how many by devices?
Which buildings would be most expensive to re-cable?

What it is costing

What are you paying in legacy line rental this year?
What would handsets and cabling cost to replace user lines?
How much engineering resource is committed before January 2027?

What would change

How much smaller is the project once user lines come off the list?
Which outlying buildings could be resolved with no site visit?
What is the plan for lift, fire panel and alarm lines?

The switch-off deadline is fixed and the resource available to meet it is not. Tango Extend removes a large share of the analogue estate without replacing it — no handsets, no cabling, no site visits.

That leaves a smaller, clearer programme for the device lines that genuinely require one. It converts an estate-wide problem into a contained one, well before the deadline arrives.

Looking Ahead

Line auditOutlying building coverageDevice line planningPost-migration simplification

Learn More

Visit tango-networks.com or contact your local Tango Extend partner
for a personalised demonstration.

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Version 1.0 · August 2026