How (and when) AT&T will kiss copper goodbye

AT&T has been laying the groundwork for the decommissioning of its extensive copper network. The company recently shed a lot more detail on when it expects to retire the vast majority of its copper, how it will pursue the transition and what products it has developed as an alternative to plain old telephone service, or POTS, that can run on either fiber or wireless networks. Timing-wise, AT&T plans to shut down copper-based services across the vast majority of its US territory by the end of 2029, timing that coincides with the company's plan to build fiber to 45 million locations within its legacy wireline footprint. AT&T's copper shutdown plan does not currently include California—AT&T is working with regulators there to establish a framework for AT&T to retire its copper services in the Golden State. AT&T has plenty of operational and financial reasons to retire its copper network. Notably, services based on the platform can no longer keep pace with the needs of most customers and it's a heavy expense that AT&T would like to remove from the books.