I don't believe the ISPreview article for a second.
Before the Winter break they wrote..
UPDATE 1:53pm
We understand that this pause is temporary and will last until sometime in early 2018, which is largely attributed to the Christmas and New Year break.
In other words the trial should continue and Openreach are currently examining the initial rollout to 30,000 lines.
Then, magically....
UPDATE 1st Feb 2018
We understand that so far the ECI Retransmission Trial has migrated around 600,000 lines and the official rollout is about to commence across their estate.
How can they go in to the break with 30,000 and get ready to start back up with 600,000.
Sounds like Andy had been banding figures about to me
A few of us should get an email as soon as a new ECI line gets G.INP on MyDSLWebStats.
It will be posted here within hours of that.