There is no verified national switch-off date for copper in South Africa, and anyone who tells you there is should be asked for the source.
If you run a business in South Africa, you have probably been told that Telkom is switching off copper in 2026 and that you need to migrate now. It is on a lot of websites. Most of them belong to companies that sell the thing you would be migrating to.
We are one of those companies, so treat what follows accordingly — and then go and check it, because the actual position is more useful than the deadline story.
There is no national copper switch-off date
Telkom has not announced a date on which copper stops working across South Africa. What exists instead is a gradual retirement that has been running since roughly 2019, area by area, driven by economics rather than a calendar.
Openserve, Telkom’s wholesale arm, has been explicit that it will not disconnect copper customers in areas where it has no fibre presence. It migrates copper to fibre where fibre exists. That is a very different proposition from a switch-off date, and it is why businesses in some areas have been told nothing at all while others have already lost service.
ADSL is the part that has genuinely gone. The bulk of the ADSL network is switched off, it is closed to new orders, and the remaining lines survive in pockets where fibre and fixed-LTE coverage is still being built. Copper voice is a slower story: it still runs in many places where the copper is physically in the ground.
So why does everyone say 2026?
Because a deadline sells. "Migrate before the deadline" is a far easier sales conversation than "this will probably affect you at some point, in a way nobody can date precisely." We understand the temptation — we are in the same business — but a deadline you cannot verify is not a good reason to make an infrastructure decision.
The better reason is what is actually happening on the ground, which is worse than a deadline in some ways and better in others.
What actually triggers action for your business
Your line fails and nobody comes to fix it. This is the most common way businesses discover the copper retirement. Copper faults in areas earmarked for migration are increasingly not repaired, because repairing a network you are retiring makes no commercial sense. Copper theft accelerates this — a stolen cable in a fibre-served area is unlikely to be replaced with copper.
Fibre arrives in your area and you get a migration notice. Where Openserve has fibre, copper customers get moved. Openserve’s fibre footprint grew by close to 12% in the year to March 2026 and continues to expand across the metros, so the pool of business parks, high streets and office areas where copper is safe keeps shrinking.
You cannot add lines. Even where your existing service works, ADSL is closed to new orders. Businesses that want to grow, open a branch or add capacity find the option is simply not on the menu.
ISDN and PRI support thins out. If you run a traditional PBX on ISDN, you are on the oldest part of the estate, and support and fault resolution are the first things to degrade.
Why waiting is still the wrong call
None of the above is an emergency this week. All of it means the same thing over any reasonable planning horizon: the copper under your business is a depreciating asset with no upgrade path, maintained by a company that would rather you were on something else.
The risk is not that a switch is thrown on a particular date. The risk is that you get moved on somebody else’s timetable — usually the day a fault occurs — rather than yours. Migrating while your line still works is a project. Migrating after it fails is an outage.
The thing actually at risk is your number
Here is the part that matters most and gets discussed least. Your phone system can be replaced in an afternoon. Your handsets can be replaced. What cannot be replaced is the number that is printed on your vehicles, indexed by Google, saved in your customers’ phones and written on ten years of invoices.
That number is portable, and porting it is the single most useful thing you can do to make yourself independent of what happens to the copper.
How porting actually works in South Africa
Number portability is a regulated process. A few facts worth knowing before anyone tries to worry you into a decision.
Your provider cannot refuse a legitimate port. The number is yours, and under ICASA regulations Telkom has no grounds to block a valid request. What can delay it is money — your account has to be up to date, and an outstanding balance will hold things up until settled.
There is no downtime. Your number keeps working on your existing service throughout the process. On the day the port completes, calls switch across. Your callers notice nothing.
It takes days, not months. Geographic landline numbers — your 021, 011, 031 — typically complete in five to ten business days once submitted and approved.
A phone or PBX rental agreement does not block it. Rental agreements cover hardware, not numbers or services. You can port the number and keep using compatible handsets. Do check your contract terms, though: porting your numbers away does not, by itself, cancel a contract you have signed.
You can move everything at once. Multiple numbers, from multiple providers, can be ported together and each pointed at its own destination — a ring group, an extension, an IVR — so your call routing is configured before the port lands rather than after.
What you need to hand: the numbers, your current provider’s name, your account number with them, your billing address, and for Telkom numbers usually a recent bill.
What we would actually do in your position
Find out what you are on. Copper analogue, ISDN, fibre voice or a mix. Many businesses genuinely do not know, and the answer determines how urgent this is.
Check whether fibre has reached you. If it has, you are in the migration path whether you have been told or not.
Port your numbers before you are forced to. This is the step that removes the risk, and it does not require you to rip anything out on the same day.
Then choose the phone system on its merits — features, cost and support — rather than under time pressure created by a failure.
Frequently asked questions
Is Telkom really switching off copper?
Copper is being retired gradually, area by area, and has been since around 2019 — but there is no announced national date on which it stops working. Openserve has stated it will not disconnect copper customers where it has no fibre presence. Treat any specific "deadline" you are quoted as a claim to verify, not a fact.
What happens to my landline number if my copper line is disconnected?
The number is yours and remains portable. The risk is timing: porting a number is straightforward while your service is active, and considerably more stressful once the line is dead and calls are already going unanswered. Port before you are forced to.
Can I keep my Telkom number if I move to VoIP?
Yes. Porting from Telkom is one of the most common migrations in the South African market. Under ICASA regulations Telkom cannot refuse a legitimate port request, though your account must be financially up to date.
How long does it take to port a Telkom number?
Geographic numbers such as 021, 011 and 031 typically take five to ten business days from submission and approval. Your new provider handles the process; you sign a letter of authority.
Will my phone stop working during the port?
No. Your number continues to work on your existing service for the whole process. Calls switch over on completion, and callers experience no interruption.
What replaces an ISDN or PRI line?
A cloud PBX with SIP connectivity. Your extensions, IVR menus, call queues and routing move into software, which means no on-site hardware to maintain and no line card to replace when it fails.
Do I need fibre to use VoIP?
No. A stable connection is what matters, and fibre, fixed-LTE and 5G all work. What matters more than raw speed is consistency and low latency, plus a plan for what happens when the connection at your premises drops — mobile apps and call forwarding cover that.
Should I migrate now or wait until my line fails?
Migrating while the line works is a scheduled project you control. Migrating after it fails is an outage you do not. The cost is the same; the disruption is not.
The bottom line
There is no verified national switch-off date for copper in South Africa, and anyone who tells you there is should be asked for the source. But the direction of travel has been consistent for years: copper is being retired area by area, faults on it are increasingly not worth fixing, and the network is closed to growth.
You do not need to panic. You do need to stop treating your phone line as permanent infrastructure, and you need to secure the number attached to it.
Othos ports numbers from Telkom every week — it is one of the most common things we do. See how number porting works → or talk to us → and we will tell you what you are on and what your options are, whether or not you end up moving to us.
