Analysts, advocates aren’t sold on AT&T’s copper retirement plan

Consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge took issue with the idea that AT&T’s copper retirement plan could leave customers without a wireline replacement, arguing wireless options may be insufficient to meet modern speed needs. Analyst firm New Street Research separately warned states seeking to close the digital divide might not look kindly on such a move. “The problem is not retiring copper in and of itself. The problem is retiring copper without a suitable replacement that is as good or better than the copper,” said Jenna Leventoff, Public Knowledge’s senior policy counsel. “The rules basically say that you don’t want to harm consumers. But we would say that if you’re getting a lower quality network that’s not going to be able to do everything the old network could do, that would be harming consumers.” According to New Street Research’s Blair Levin, state and federal government officials might not look favorably on AT&T’s plan to leave some customers without a wireline option for broadband by retiring copper without a fiber replacement in areas unserved by other operators. Levin said it’s unclear from AT&T’s public comments how many customers it is planning to serve with its wireless-only catch products. Many of the locations it’s planning to disconnect from copper are likely served by cable providers, he noted, but the optics of such a large-scale sunset might not be great as AT&T competes with other operators for billions in broadband funding.