Sonic CEO Dane Jasper Says Copper Leasing Provides Foundation for Expanding Broadband Fiber

WASHINGTON, March 4, 2020 — Dane Jasper, CEO of mid-size internet service provider Sonic, promoted his brand and challenged that of big telecom providers at Incompas’ policy summit on Tuesday.

“Our approach is to run [wires] as fast as they will go,” said Jasper. In addition, Sonic offers no data cap and bundles data with voice capabilities for $40/month.

Perhaps the most unique feature offered of Sonic is when it leases big telecom companies’ copper wires for $40/month, and when it builds fiber capacity in a location, it migrates its users in that area from copper to fiber free of charge.

Jasper also warned the audience against AT&T and Verizon lobbying efforts to pass policies that he claims will limit competition among internet service providers and raise prices.

These efforts, he said, aim to exclude smaller ISPs from using legacy copper wires. “We all need this foundation of copper to stand on,” Jasper said.

The session moderator, Incompas CEO and former Rep. Chip Pickering, R-Miss., added that 5G will be built “not by two or three companies but by hundreds.”

Pickering proceeded to show the crowd a video sharing Jasper’s concern that AT&T is attempting to limit competition.

Near the end of the video, an AT&T logo breaks in half and reveals a gaping mouth that swallows up logos for DirectTV, CNN, and HBO like a Pac-Man. The animated AT&T logo then gave birth to a dragon that “burns the bridge” connecting small broadband to American consumers.