CWA Slams FCC's Streamlined OK of AT&T Copper Retirement in Oklahoma
AT&T said Monday the FCC approved its proposal to to initially stop new sales and then discontinue residential local service in nine Oklahoma wire centers. The proposal was deemed granted Saturday after the agency didn’t take further action. The Communications Workers of America slammed the development.
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“The FCC’s approval of our application is a significant step forward in our path to modernize our network,” Rhonda Johnson, AT&T executive vice president-federal regulatory relations, said Monday. “This allows us to replace traditional landline service for a small number of our customers with AT&T Phone -- Advanced.” No AT&T customers “will be left without voice or 911 service,” she promised.
Chris Sambar, a former AT&T executive, said in May the carrier spends $10 billion annually maintaining millions of miles of copper wires, though only 5% remain in use (see 2405210059). More recently, AT&T has pegged the cost at $6 million annually in direct costs to keep the network running.
The “real regulatory hurdle” has been in the states, not at the FCC, Recon Analytics’ Roger Entner told us Monday. If the states sign off, “and 20 out of the 21 states have already given their approval, then the FCC is OK with retiring copper as well, regardless of who” chairs the FCC. “We need to step forward and let old, outdated technologies sunset.”
However, CWA raised concerns. “As technicians and support representatives who interact with customers every day, we understand the need to update copper lines in order to provide more dependable service with the capacity to meet the current and future needs of residents and businesses,” the union said Monday: “Unfortunately, instead of replacing those lines with reliable, future-proof fiber optic cable, AT&T intends to dump customers in more than half of its territory off its landlines and leave many of them with only wireless or satellite as options.”
At a recent financial conference, AT&T CEO John Stankey highlighted the company’s need to move “completely off” legacy technology, though he noted the current FCC has been “cautious” in approving applications. Stankey also welcomed what he expects to be the anti-regulatory bent of the incoming Trump administration (see 2412100069).
CWA also questioned whether AT&T would invest more in its network, as Stankey promised, if Congress approves a wave of tax cuts. “We have been down this road before” it said. “AT&T made similar claims when it championed Trump’s first-term corporate tax cuts,” CWA added. Instead, “AT&T reduced capital investments, slashed tens of thousands of jobs, and announced plans to spend $30 billion on stock buybacks.”
AT&T appreciates the current FCC’s “attentiveness to this process, recognition of changing customer needs, and eye toward the future of our industry” and looks forward to working with new Chairman Brendan Carr, Johnson said.
In a filing last week in docket 24-220, AT&T committed to filing a progress report on the “rollout of AT&T Phone -- Advanced” in Oklahoma “and noting any customer concerns or issues with the transition away from [traditional wireline service] in the affected wire centers within six months of the grant of this application.” AT&T said it “further understands that its voluntary commitment to file a progress report is a condition of the Commission’s streamlined grant of this application.”