Will We Ever End Legacy Telephone Networks?

Anybody not involved in the telephone business will probably be surprised to find that the old TDM telephone networks are still very much alive and in place. The old technologies were supposed to be phased out and replaced by digital technologies. In 2013, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced an effort to force the needed changes, and in 2015 it released an order that described the process for telephone companies to retire copper networks, and that also discontinued the requirement that big telcos offer wholesale TDM services. In 2016 the FCC released that full IP Transition Plan that was aimed at replacing the TDM voice infrastructure with an all-IP network. But somewhere along the line, AT&T and Verizon highjacked the IP Transition, and progress stalled. It’s getting more costly every year for traditional carriers to keep using the TDM networks. What is probably most amazing is how the FCC ordered the IP Transition and then just let the biggest telephone companies walk away from the process with no repercussions. It’s time for the FCC to pick this back up and finally make this happen.