CenturyLink Retiring Copper in 8 States

CenturyLink has notified the Federal Communications Commission that it is replacing copper-based wireline facilities in cities in eight states.

In its filings, CenturyLink said the retirements are necessary to “respond to various factors in the outside plant, including road construction, maintenance problems and growth accommodation.” Replacement cables may be either copper or fiber, the telco giant said.

This is all expected to happen by December.{ad}

In Minneapolis-St. Paul and Vancouver, Washington, CenturyLink will replace copper with fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) facilities. In 2014, the company announced it is using fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) technology to provide broadband speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second to residential and business customers in select locations.

“Growth in the area requires CenturyLink to install fiber-based access to its customer,” Century said in an FCC filing. “The copper loops will be replaced by fiber loops as customers migrate to higher speed broadband Internet access (BIA). Unbundled copper loops may not be available to an individual address after the planned completion/retirement date.”

Copper retirements also are planned in Alabama, Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.

Growth in the distribution area requires that CenturyLink “cut facilities to (the) fiber-fed digital loop carrier system (DLC),” it said.

“After the cut to DLC, copper-reliant services, such as non-loaded copper loops will not be supported,” the filing reads. “All other types of unbundled loops will still be available.”

In an August 2015 order, the FCC permitted carriers to retire copper networks without requiring approval “so long as the change of technology does not discontinue, reduce or impair the service provided.” The commission further required notice to be provided to retail consumers and interconnecting carriers when copper networks are retired, and defined “copper retirement” to “prevent de facto copper retirement without notice to affected persons.”

In separate filings, CenturyLink, AT&T and Verizon said that de facto copper retirement is a “myth.”

It’s just the latest move by a communications behemoth to put its legacy in the rearview mirror. Last week, Windstream told the FCC that it’s discontinuing a number of traditional telephony services across 18 states.