Some Early Comments Support Speeding Copper Retirements
The Telecommunications Industry Association Monday asked the FCC to act quickly on rules that could speed up the transition by carriers away from legacy copper networks (see 2507240048). Comments were due Monday in docket 25-208. The FCC also continues to hear from consumers on what they see as the advantages of traditional wireline phones (see 2509250045).
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“Increasingly, legacy copper networks that were once foundational to the nation’s communications infrastructure have become obsolete in the face of modern IP-based technologies,” TIA said. Legacy copper systems are “expensive to maintain, less resilient to environmental stressors, and have been made obsolete by newer technologies that are better suited to support the high-speed, low-latency demands of today’s digital economy.”
Citizens Against Government Waste also urged the FCC to cut requirements carriers continue to support the legacy systems. “As vast amounts of data traffic move over the communications networks, copper wire is no longer essential, and where it is available, the risk of failures due to its susceptibility to water damage and power outages is increasing,” CAGW said. Another risk is from rising copper prices, the group said. Bad actors steal encased copper lines and cut them into short lengths, then burn them to remove the sheathing and expose the raw copper inside,” CAGW said. The copper “is then typically sold to scrap metal dealers, some of whom, in periods of high demand, are willing to accept the valuable commodity purportedly without knowing its origin.”