- AT&T has FCC approval to turn off copper for 500 wire centers
- But it’s still facing state pushback, namely from California
- Alleviating customer concerns is another challenge
The road to copper retirement is paved with paperwork, but AT&T seems to be moving along just fine in its quest to shut down its legacy copper network by 2029.
AT&T recently secured Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval to fully discontinue copper services in about 500 wire centers, or 10% of its footprint, Susan Johnson, AT&T’s EVP and general manager of Wireline Transformation and Global Supply Chain, told Fierce.
The update comes after the FCC in March got the ball rolling to speed up the copper retirement process for operators. Naturally, it’s not so simple as switching off copper and replacing it with a newer technology.
Johnson explained AT&T must first get approval from each state to discontinue copper. Only from there can it move forward with the FCC’s process, which involves a filing to grandfather and stop new copper services and indicating what alternatives are available to customers in an area.
Alternative services could be fiber, fixed wireless access (FWA) or Phone Advanced, AT&T’s landline phone replacement. AT&T also has to show the FCC Phone Advanced is compatible with what consumers need it for, such as fax machines and medical monitoring devices.
“A lot of work went into figuring out how do we exit, why do we exit and what is the sequencing of the exit,” Johnson said.
She added AT&T is prioritizing copper retirement in its “wireless-first areas,” which are markets where AT&T isn’t building residential fiber. The goal is to have no customers using copper in those areas by the end of 2027. In other areas, it’s aiming to finish fiber deployments before beginning customer migrations.
AT&T’s regulatory copper challenge
But AT&T is not quite done getting over the state regulatory hurdle. Johnson said AT&T still doesn’t have the go-ahead from California and a handful of counties left in Kansas and Nevada.
California last year rejected AT&T’s request to be relieved of its duties as a carrier of last resort (COLR). An operator designated as COLR must provide basic telephone service, commonly via landline, to anyone who requests it in its specified areas. State regulators said AT&T “failed to demonstrate” the availability of another provider willing to serve as the COLR.
“We are still working with the California policymakers as well as the [Public Utilities Commission] there to define our path to get the state level relief,” Johnson said.
Perhaps there’s a light at the end of the regulatory tunnel. California’s state legislature is currently deliberating a bill that would allow AT&T to exit as COLR in areas the state deems “well-served.” The bill would also require AT&T to continue service for existing customers for at least 12 months after being granted COLR relief.
The customer challenge
Paperwork aside, AT&T is also trying to alleviate customer concerns about copper retirement.
Johnson said it’s a work in progress educating customers that their existing equipment will still work without copper. Some customers, particularly those in a demographic “where they don’t understand technology as well,” are worried they could be left without voice services or 911 access.
The same goes for businesses that are still relying on copper. For AT&T’s part, it’s helping business customers “identify what equipment is riding on that copper-based set of lines and then making sure we’ve got a clear story on how we’re upgrading them,” Johnson said.
Nevertheless, she noted only about 3% of AT&T’s customers are using copper services. It’s just a matter of ensuring all the coverage gaps are filled once discontinuation fully gets going.
There are some markets “where we do not have full wireless coverage for a customer to be able to use an [AT&T Phone Advanced] product,” said Johnson.
“So for some of those customers, we ultimately may be looking at satellite or other connectivity to make sure we meet that pledge of no customer being left behind without full access to 911 and voice services,” she concluded.