AT&T has to this point continued supporting copper landlines, that are often known as plain outdated phone service, or POTS. Solely 5 p.c of the corporate’s residential subscribers nonetheless use the copper-wire telephone community, which prices it $6 billion a yr.
Whereas the outgoing Democrat-led Federal Communications Fee (FCC) wasn’t against the corporate ditching copper, in accordance with CEO John Stankey, he believes the brand new administration will likely be extra supportive.
POTS is out of date, however many individuals are nonetheless hanging onto it as a result of it is often self-powered, making it probably the most dependable solution to contact emergency providers when pure disasters strike. Some clients, akin to these from low-income households, can both not afford mobile service or do not have entry to cellular networks or broadband web as a result of they reside in rural areas.
AT&T has launched a landline various known as Telephone-Superior that may run on each its cellular community and fiber to make sure no buyer is left with out a voice or 911 service. It could assist all providers which can be depending on POTS, akin to fax machines and alarm techniques, and has lots of the identical options, together with caller ID and name ready. The FCC has but to approve Telephone Superior as a landline substitute.AT&T hopes to persuade its clients that Telephone-Superior will show to be as strong as copper landlines.
In areas the place Telephone-Superior is just not obtainable, the corporate will present satellite tv for pc service to its clients to maintain them related. In locations with no various possibility, voice service will proceed to be offered for so long as wanted.
20 out of 21 states have given it the go-ahead to proceed with the multiyear transition.
Stankey believes that Brendan Carr, President-elect Donald Trump’s choose for chairman of FCC goes to be extra “market-oriented” on points akin to migrating away from legacy networks. His reward for a market-oriented strategy displays the corporate’s market-driven strategy.
Blair Levin, a coverage analyst with New Road Analysis, agrees that Carr will prioritize future wants over present legacy providers.
We additionally suppose that he will likely be clearer in directing employees to approve decommissioning requests. Additional, we expect he will likely be an efficient voice in urging states to be extra accommodating to [Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier] requests to retire copper networks.
Blair Levin, coverage analyst at New Road Analysis, December 2024