I’m Ready to Call It

My best guess is the public switched telephone network will ether be dead or dying by the end of 2030. This doesn’t mean the death of telephone voice service, but the end of the regulated service that has been offered by telephone companies. Any voice products that remain will be delivered using Voice over Internet Protocol. The death of the PSTN is being fostered by the Federal Communications Commission, which has made it much easier for telephone companies to tear down or decommission copper telephone networks. The FCC began the process by providing a two-year moratorium on notifications for taking down copper in July and followed that up more recently with a formal docket to make the rules permanent. Eliminating copper lines is not the same as eliminating the PSTN. I expect the FCC will formally announce rules to end the PSTN soon. But even if the FCC doesn’t take specific action, I expect the big telephone companies to start dismantling the PSTN in pieces on their own.