Broadband Breakfast on February 25, 2026 – Legacy Networks in the Fiber Era
As fiber networks rapidly expand nationwide, the retirement of legacy copper infrastructure has emerged as a critical broadband policy debate, raising complex questions about service continuity, regulation, and the risk of leaving rural and low-income communities behind.
As fiber deployment accelerates across the country, the question of what to do with the nation's aging copper infrastructure has moved to the center of state and federal broadband policy debates. This webinar will examine the complex transition away from legacy networks, the obligations that exist (if any) to maintain service continuity for existing customers, and how regulators are overseeing this shift. Experts will discuss the technical, economic, universal service and equity dimensions of copper retirement–including the risk of leaving rural and low-income communities behind.
Panelists
- Panelists have been invited
- Drew Clark (moderator), CEO and Publisher, Broadband Breakfast
Breakfast Media LLC CEO Drew Clark has led the Broadband Breakfast community since 2008. An early proponent of better broadband, better lives, he initially founded the Broadband Census crowdsourcing tool to collect and verify broadband data left unpublished by the Federal Communications Commission. As CEO and Publisher, Clark presides over the leading media community advocating for higher-capacity internet everywhere through topical, timely and intelligent coverage. Clark also served as head of the Partnership for a Connected Illinois, a state broadband initiative.
Member discussion