AT&T, Verizon, Ziply plot copper retirement work across a dozen states

AT&T has filed to undertake copper retirement projects in at least eight states in 2022 as it ramps a plan to reduce its legacy DSL footprint by 50 percent over the coming years. Verizon, which has been working to retire its copper network for a while now, and Ziply Fiber are seeking to sunset copper assets in four additional states. Under Federal Communications Commission rules, operators are required to file public notices for certain network changes, including copper retirements. Short-term notice can be submitted for changes set to take place within six months. These notices are published by the FCC and considered final after 90 days if no objection is raised. In the case of filings covering facilities not serving any customers, the notices are considered final after 15 days. The waiting period following the publication of public notices was originally 180 days, but was cut to 90 through reforms passed by the FCC in November 2017. AT&T is targeting upgrade work in Georgia, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas in the first half of this year. Specifically, AT&T filed to upgrade wire centers in Atlanta (GA); Charlotte (NC); Brookfield, Chillicothe, Laclede, Linneus, Kirksville, Saint Catharine, Stanberry and Trenton (MO); and Alva and Olustee (OK). The filings for most of these noted there were no current customers on the relevant parts of the network. Elsewhere, Verizon filed to retire copper assets in South Boston (MA), and Syracuse, Scarsdale and Pleasantville (NY), while Ziply Fiber submitted plans to decommission wire centers in Newberg, Beaverton and Hillsboro (OR), and Marysville (WA).