Consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge took issue with the idea that AT&T’s copper retirement plan could leave customers without a wireline replacement, arguing wireless options may be insufficient to meet modern speed needs. Analyst firm New Street Research separately warned states seeking to close the digital divide might not look kindly on such a move.
“The problem is not retiring copper in and of itself. The problem is retiring copper without a suitable replacement that is as good or better than the copper,” Jenna Leventoff, Public Knowledge’s senior policy counsel, told Fierce. “The rules basically say that you don’t want to harm consumers. But we would say that if you’re getting a lower quality network that’s not going to be able to do everything the old network could do, that would be harming consumers.”
AT&T recently outlined a plan to slash its copper footprint in half from 60 million locations to 30 million by 2025 as it expands its fiber footprint from 15 million to 30 million locations passed over the same timeframe. It isn’t the only one retiring copper – both Verizon and Ziply Fiber have recently filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to sunset some of their legacy assets this year. However, AT&T executives noted they’re not planning to deploy fiber everywhere they’re planning to turn down copper and will instead deploy fixed wireless “catch products” to serve consumers in some areas. Both Verizon and Ziply told Fierce they are not planning to retire copper in areas unserved by fiber.
Leventoff acknowledged that copper on the whole isn’t providing super-fast internet and there’s a good chance that any replacement will be faster at this point. Still, she said it’s not a given that a fixed wireless access (FWA) replacement would be sufficient, noting performance depends a lot on what wireless and backhaul infrastructure is already in place in a given area.
The U.S. government has previously deemed fixed wireless sufficient to close the broadband gap, allowing millions in support from the Connect America Fund and Rural Digital Opportunity Fund to be used for FWA rollouts. But Leventoff noted both programs only required providers to offer speeds of 25 Mbps downstream and 3 Mbps upstream. According to its website, AT&T says fixed wireless customers can expect download speeds of at least 10 Mbps and typical download speeds of 25 Mbps. It lists typical upload speeds of around 1 Mbps.
“The times are different and speed needs have grown so significantly since CAF II that people are looking at these speeds differently. I don’t think that fixed wireless is an inherently bad technology…but it’s going to depend on how it’s able to perform,” Leventoff said.
A disclaimer on AT&T's fixed wireless website notes "service performance may be affected by the customer’s proximity to a cell site, capacity of the cell site, number of other users connected to the same cell site, surrounding terrain, radio frequency interference, applicable network management practices and applications used."
Leventoff also resurfaced years-old concerns that copper retirements could adversely impact certain medical devices and alarm systems which are only compatible with legacy network technology.
Expectations vs. reality
New Street Research’s Blair Levin floated a different concern, namely that state and federal government officials might not look favorably on AT&T’s plan to leave some customers without a wireline option for broadband by retiring copper without a fiber replacement in areas unserved by other operators.
During its investor day event, AT&T Communications CEO Jeff McElfresh indicated a “majority” of states across its 21-state footprint had “signed off on the strategy or on this execution plan.”
Levin wrote in a note to investors on Sunday it’s unclear from AT&T’s public comments how many customers it is planning to serve with its wireless-only catch products. Many of the locations it’s planning to disconnect from copper are likely served by cable providers, he noted, but the optics of such a large-scale sunset might not be great as AT&T competes with other operators for billions in broadband funding.
“AT&T would be eligible to receive funding but, as discussed above, the timing of the retirement might be earlier than the completion of the new networks,” Levin wrote. “Further, state governments might not look favorably upon the prospects of funding an enterprise that had recently disconnected a large number of homes.”
That’s not to say AT&T’s sunset doesn’t meet regulatory requirements, but “there is some tension between political expectations and AT&T’s plans,” he wrote. In an interview with Fierce Levin added the kicker is that everyone is moving in the same direction, but at different speeds.
“This happens a lot, which is that the timing of policies, the timing of technology and the timing of budget allocations in financial markets are not coordinated for an optimal societal benefit,” he said. “It’s not like there are cross purposes. AT&T wants to retire copper, Congress wants them to retire copper. But I’m not sure Congress wants them to retire the copper before it’s replaced with fiber and I’m not sure AT&T wants to do fiber everywhere where they’re retiring copper.”
AT&T provided the following statement in response to a request for comment: "Customers are demanding fiber and wireless and we’ll continue to invest and upgrade our networks and services. In line with declining customer demand for older services, we are reducing our legacy copper-based service footprint to reinvest those resources in 5G and fiber to help drive cost efficiencies and deliver an improved customer experience. We’re working to upgrade customers to better services, like fiber, for a similar or better value where possible before we discontinue our copper-based services."
This story has been updated to include a statement from AT&T.