AT&T: Carr FCC Will be Good for Copper Decommissioning

WASHINGTON, Dec. 10, 2024 – AT&T has plans to get most of its legacy copper networks offline by the end of 2029. The company thinks a GOP-controlled Federal Communications Commission will probably speed up the process.

Copper networks are costly to maintain and can’t provide competitive broadband speeds, but regulators don’t want swaths of rural and low-income households to also lose access to 911 and voice services. Incumbent providers need approval from the FCC and state utility regulators to take down copper, which usually hinges on showing they or another company will still provide voice service somehow.

“I know Brendan pretty well,” AT&T CEO John Stankey said Tuesday of current Republican commissioner and incoming chairman Brendan Carr. “I think he’s gonna be much more market-oriented” on issues like “how to migrate away from legacy” networks, among other things. He spoke at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference in New York.

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