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  "description": "The agency allowed bundled voice services to qualify as an alternative option, among other things.",
  "path": "/fcc-loosens-copper-retirement-rules/",
  "publishedAt": "2025-03-20T18:27:01.000Z",
  "site": "https://broadbandbreakfast.com",
  "tags": [
    "_agency granted by_",
    "_make it easier_",
    "_copper retirement goals_",
    "_looking to retire_",
    "_to waive for_",
    "_grandfathering legacy services_"
  ],
  "textContent": "WASHINGTON, March 20, 2025 – The Federal Communications Commission moved Thursday to loosen multiple copper retirement rules. For at least the next two years, providers looking to decommission voice services will no longer need to show another stand-alone voice option is available – a bundled option will suffice.\n\nCopper is expensive to maintain and no longer offers competitive broadband speeds, so providers have been eager to rip up their aging infrastructure as quickly as possible. Regulators don’t want swaths of rural areas to lose access to 911 and voice services, so getting the greenlight usually involves showing the incumbent will replace the service with something comparable or another option is available.\n\nThe FCC issued four orders Thursday aimed at making that process easier for providers. FCC Chairman **Brendan Carr** signaled the agency would be taking additional action on the issue in the future.\n\n“There is much more work ahead for the FCC, and our goal through additional actions is to ultimately free up billions of dollars for new networks that otherwise would have been diverted into costly and outdated copper lines,” he said in a statement. “As we take these actions, we are also ensuring that consumers remain protected during the transition.”\n\nUSTelecom, the major broadband trade group, had submitted a petition Feb. 27 asking for the alternative options test change, which the _agency granted by_ allowing services that bundle voice with text and mobile data or fixed broadband to qualify. The group was pleased to see Thursday’s orders.\n\n“Broadband providers appreciate Chairman Carr’s laser focus on cutting through red tape and outdated mindsets to accelerate the work of connecting all Americans,” USTelecom CEO **Jonathan Spalter** said in a statement. “Today’s decision marks a significant step forward in transitioning outdated copper telephone lines to next-generation networks that better meet the needs of American consumers.”\n\nThe FCC also moved to _make it easier_ for providers looking to replace copper with their own replacement service to get streamlined treatment. Previously, the agency said there had been confusion about whether applicants had to conduct involved technical studies, but a Thursday order, not limited to a two-year window, clarified that less time-consuming evidence would suffice.\n\nIn any event, the agency noted the only company that’s tried to replace voice service with its own alternative so far is AT&T. The order claimed the requirements delayed the company’s July 2024 application by “several months.”\n\nThe carrier has ambitious _copper retirement goals_, looking to decommission by 2030 all of its copper outside California, where utility regulators have been less receptive to the plan. The company earlier this year filed applications to retire about 1,300 wire centers, central offices to which old copper phone lines connect. AT&T has a total of 4,600 such centers, the majority of which it’s _looking to retire_.\n\nAT&T wants to replace its copper with a separate product that connects to its wireless or fiber networks and provides the same functionality as a landline, including faxing and alarm systems.\n\nThe FCC also moved Thursday _to waive for_ at least two years a requirement that providers file notices with the agency before network changes, including copper retirements, and to waive requirements related to _grandfathering legacy services_.",
  "title": "FCC Loosens Copper Retirement Rules",
  "updatedAt": "2026-03-11T03:32:22.351Z"
}