Telecommunication

If you know anything about Brightspeed, it’s been all about building fiber broadband.

AT&T talks a big talk about its fiber broadband ambitions. It’s also putting the pedal to the medal on copper retirement, with a new $850 million deal as the stepping stone. The operator disclosed it signed a sale-leaseback deal of 74 central office (CO) facilities—used to house and connect equipment for copper networks—to real estate developer Reign Capital.

Following recent reports involving an intrusion by foreign actors into U.S.

AT&T has made it official that it plans to shut down copper networks everywhere except California by the end of 2029. This is not exactly news since the company has been quietly shutting down copper all over the country. California is a special situation because the California Public Service Commission has never deregulated AT&T as a local telephone company and the state is going to make AT&T prove to it that customers will not be stranded when the copper comes down. AT&T says it will offer an alternate technology to customers—either fiber or wireless.

While communications impacts are minimal so far, the FCC will continue to monitor how these sets of wildfires are affecting residents’ ability to receive the information they need to stay safe. Should conditions change, the agency stands ready to support in any way it can, including any requests to deploy FCC staff to help with any communications network recovery.

An AT&T effort to replace aging copper connections with wireless options is gaining regulatory steam, potentially paving the way for more operators to do the same. That could have significant implications for the wireless network operators offering those alternatives.

Telephone companies around the world are forecast to collectively make more than $10 billion from the sale of copper over the next 15 years as they remove older cables from their networks, in a boost for the sector as demand for the metal is expected to grow. Operators are forecast to receive as much as $720 million from copper sales in 2025, according to TXO, which helps companies recycle and sell the metal.

AT&T's framework to retire the bulk of its copper network faces static from some groups and the state of California. But the operator's development of an alternative POTS (plain old telephone service), and an increasingly favorable regulatory environment bode well for its plan, says a top policy analyst. "Considering changing circumstances, we believe [AT&T's] copper retirement goals are realistic," New Street Research analyst Blair Levin explained in a recent research note.

AT&T has been laying the groundwork for the decommissioning of its extensive copper network.

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel proposed urgent action to safeguard the nation’s communications systems from real and present cybersecurity threats, including from state-sponsored cyber actors from the People’s Republic of China.