Verizon Files Flurry of Copper Retirement Notifications as Part of Fiber Migration
Verizon plans to replace copper with fiber in communities across eight states, according to nine filings it made Thursday in the FCC docketing inbox (available here). Such copper-retirement notifications have streamed in from Verizon and other telcos, but the new…
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ones appeared to be among the biggest batches yet. "These latest filings are part of an on-going effort to transform our network to realize the many benefits of fiber, a process that started years ago," emailed a Verizon spokesman, who said the filings cover 80 wire centers in eight states: Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey (two), New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Virginia. The filings said most customers who are served by the copper purchase "plain old telephone service" (POTS). "Following transition to fiber, Verizon will continue to offer these customers the same POTS service over fiber at the same or better price as they received on copper facilities, with no change in the underlying features and functionalities in their service," they said. Six of the filings said the retirements weren't part of a transition to IP-based service, and Verizon will offer customers the same regulated service they currently have. Also last week, the Wireline Bureau issued seven public notices (available here) on other recent Verizon notifications of copper retirements as part of fiber transitions in five states: Massachusetts, New Jersey (two), New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia (two). Any objections must be filed within nine business days of the PNs. One industry official told us copper-retirement notifications filed by incumbent telcos at the FCC have generally not been controversial, at least since Superstorm Sandy caused widespread damage to Verizon systems in the New York City area, including on Fire Island, in 2012. ILECs, CLECs and others did heavily dispute the rules for copper retirement notifications and related telecom service discontinuance applications in FCC tech-transition proceedings that produced orders in August 2015 and in July (see 1508060044 and 1607140066). Some East Coast states are looking into Verizon copper service quality and the telco’s willingness to upgrade copper in areas where it hasn’t rolled out fiber (see 1609080030 and 1608120053), while the District of Columbia is considering copper abandonment and battery backup rules (see 1608170041).