AT&T Sides with Verizon in Opposing Copper Retirement Extension

AT&T has sided with Verizon to oppose TelePacific's proposal to the FCC asking for a delay in the retirement of copper infrastructure citing possible diminished services to customers who may not have access to IP networks 

AT&T last week added its opposition to a proposal from TelePacific asking the FCC to delay the retirement of copper infrastructure.

The dispute stems from the FCC’s August adoption of rules designed to ease the transition from legacy copper and TDM networks to IP networks.

In its fight in favor of a delay, TelePacific said that a longer transition period would “[prevent] customers from being offered diminished services” in areas where IP networks may not be able to completely replace copper.

In a new filing, however, AT&T asserted that providers – including TelePacific - already have sufficient time to inform their business customers that they might be switching away from copper. At present, the timeline for copper retirement allows for 180 days of transition time – double the previous period.

The 180-day period “should be more than sufficient to determine whether any service that it is currently providing will be affected by the copper retirement to the degree that it would need to file a Section 214 discontinuance application,” the filing read.

AT&T also proposed that the amendment would unfairly affect other carriers. 

“…adopting TelePacific's suggestion that a provider's copper retirement notice be held up until a Section 214 application -- submitted by another carrier and over which the provider has no control -- is approved would create inappropriate opportunities for other parties to inject delay and uncertainty,” the company said in the filing. They also asserted that TelePacific was trying to “[turn] the now expanded notice requirements into a de facto approval process.”

Verizon and Adtran have also sided with AT&T in the fight to keep copper retirement standards as they are. TelePacific and AT&T work together under 3rd Party Vendor Agreements to provide an integrated Ethernet ecosystem. 

Source: CED