In a precursor to the headlines we’ll be seeing in the U.S., Telefónica announced on May 27 that it shut off its copper telephone network in Spain. Telefónica today has $41 billion in revenues that include broadband, voice, and cellular business. The company was the legacy monopoly telephone company in Spain, founded in 1924, and still serves a major share of the telecom market.

The company began replacing copper with fiber in 2009 in reaction to a European Union order to unbundle copper networks to allow competition – an order that did not apply to fiber. Closing the copper networks also means the wholesale business has ended for companies that were using unbundled copper access.

The company was able to decommission the first two of its 8,500 exchanges in 2014, and the pace has accelerated since then, with 4,300 exchanges shut in 2024. Telefónica claims to be the first telephone company in Europe to have completed the transition from copper to fiber.

Unlike here, the European Union has strong rules that insist that every dropped copper customer has access to another source of broadband and voice – mostly fiber, but also wireless. The EU allows remote locations to be transitioned to satellite broadband. In the U.S., telcos are supposed to find an alternative for customers but often just wink at the requirement.

AT&T made a formal announcement in January of this year that it intends to get rid of copper everywhere except California by the end of 2029. The company has been quietly decommissioning copper long before that formal announcement. AT&T will likely have a prolonged battle with the California Public Service Commission before it can tear down copper.

AT&T said in its announcement that it will offer an alternate technology to customers – either fiber or wireless. AT&T announced plans at the end of last year to build 45 million additional fiber passings on the same 2029 deadline as killing copper. Cities are anxiously waiting to see if AT&T will really build fiber in the poorest neighborhoods and in places where fiber construction is very expensive. It seems more likely that the company will get 80% fiber coverage in some cities and call it good.

Rural areas are another matter. In rural areas, AT&T will offer FWA cellular broadband as an alternative to copper. But FWA technology has two major shortcomings in rural areas. First, there is zero cellular coverage in huge parts of rural America, and even less coverage when you account for FWA customers needing to be within a few miles of a cell tower. Even close to a cell tower, there is always the question if a given tower has the capacity to accept a lot of new FWA customers. There are already stories in the press of rural customers losing copper coverage with no wireless alternative.

The FCC recently changed rules to make it easier for legacy telcos to walk away from copper networks. These changes were adopted by the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau, meaning they didn’t come to the full Commission for a vote.

One rule change allows a telco to turn off copper wires without having to conduct a test to first see if a replacement technology can take over the functions that were being performed by copper. This rule clarification says a telco can justify tearing down the old network if the “totality of the circumstances” proves that the change is needed. That seems to provide justification for tearing down copper as long as some adequate number of homes in an area will have a replacement.

Another rule change puts a two-year moratorium on telcos for having to disclose and seek public comment about closing copper networks.

Of course, to speed things along even faster, there is a good chance that all rules pertaining to copper networks will be scrapped during the Delete, Delete, Delete process.