My friend is moving next week and she just told me that she can hear the dial tone at new
address but she can't dial out as, I guess, the previous tenant/owner had the service cancelled.

My friend's intention is not to have a BT line or BT broadband so she asked me how she could have the line activated without any contract or commitment.

She doesn't even know the phone number as she couldnt dial out.

Any idea what she should do?

Many thanks

I don't understand the issue. If she doesn't want a BT line or BB why does she need to klnow about BT's contract?

As to the question, I believe that the answer is yes.

I think, she thinks, BT needs to activate the line before she could order BB and line rental from another company.

Maybe I should have asked, say, can Virgin or Post Office reactivate this line and offer their land line & BB?

They can place orders to Openreach in the exact same way as BT Retail.

Thanks that sounds promising, I'll tell her to contact her chosen provider then. By the way does she need to know the telephone number for this process or just the address is enough?

Thanks

The address should be fine.

If they do ask for a telephone number, she can dial 17070 which will tell her the line's number.

Sounds like she has "soft dial tone" supplied by one of the CPs. which will only let you dial customer services.
Best to try dialling 150 to see which CP it goes through to
17070 will not work