BT plans to switch off all analogue telephone services between January 2026 and January 2027 which means the University needs to migrate its critical and analogue lines from the current Chorus telephony service to a chosen alternative solution by the end of 2025.
The Chorus service contract (provided by ATOS/Mitel) ends in July 2026 and the University is taking this opportunity to move to a new cloud-based supplier.
Leveraging the University's relationship with Microsoft, the preferred new service will be Microsoft Teams Phone (subject to approval by appropriate decision-making bodies).There are approximately 3000 University or college staff already using Teams Phone.
What are digital lines?
Digital lines refer to VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) telephony, as opposed to analogue lines that use dedicated copper wiring and network infrastructure. If you have a Chorus desk phone, this uses VoIP telephony which is a digital line.
What does this mean for my college or department?
Personal telephony extensions
All existing Chorus desk phones will be removed and staff will start using a new telephony service that will be accessed via a dial/keypad in their Teams client using the built-in speaker/microphone or a headset. The project will coordinate the move to the new service for all telephone numbers, but will not supply personal handsets or headsets.
NOTE: for people with dual roles in a department/faculty and a college, their telephone line is paid for by the faculty or department and is associated with their SSO. If a college wants to provide a shared area device for people in this position it will have to pay for a shared area device licence and for the handset. However, we suggest you think carefully about whether this model is still required and can provide usage reports to help with this decision.
Shared area extensions
There are approximately 9000 shared area devices in use currently across the collegiate University. These are handsets located in communal or shared areas allowing more than one person to make or receive calls (for example, receptions areas, porters’ lodges). The introduction of Teams Phone could result in some of these shared areas no longer requiring a physical handset and the table below outlines the options for moving these lines. If you are unsure about the best solution to use or need further advice, please contact the project team.
| Current Chorus configuration |
Suggested alternative |
How to achieve this |
Associated cost |
|
| Hunt group |
Teams Call Queue/Autoattendant |
Complete the ‘Call Queues and AutoAttendants’ Service Request |
None |
|
| Shared area phone, eg lodge/library/lab etc where a phone is required |
Teams Desk phone using a Shared Area Device licence |
Contact the project team. Your network will require configuration, a device will need to be ordered/configured/deployed, and a Shared Area Device account created for you |
Up front hardware cost, future hardware refresh cost
Ongoing Shared Area Device licence fee under new cost model
|
|
| Shared area phone, eg lodge/library/lab etc where a phone is no longer required |
Move the extension to a Teams Call Queue/Autoattendant. Provide Telephony over Teams to the users who need to answer these calls. This will facilitate hybrid working |
- Assign the users who will handle calls Telephony over teams in Phoneman
- Complete the Call Queues and AutoAttendants Service Request
|
Ongoing line charge under new cost model |
|
| Intercomms |
Reconfigure these devices to talk to a user on Teams |
Contact the project team. We will have to handle these case by case at first |
Unknown |
|
Detailed information
