The Regulatory Death Knell for Copper?

The Federal Communications Commission recently issued an order in docket WC 25-209 and 25-208 that may signal the final regulatory death knell for telephone copper networks. The docket is titled Reducing Barriers to Network Improvements and Service Changes/Accelerating Network Modernization. The stated purpose of the order is to speed up the transition from the TDM technology used in copper telephone networks to all IP-based networks used by fiber and other newer technologies. The secondary purpose of the docket is to override state regulations that are slowing down the transition away from copper networks. The order comes in eight parts:

1. Adopt one consolidated rule applicable to all efforts to discontinue services and applications, eliminating all prior rules.
2. Give blanket authority to grandfather copper services, meaning telcos don’t have to accept new orders for these services.
3. Allow ISPs to use technologies other than copper T1s to connect to 911 centers.
4. Give carriers the right to discontinue wholesale products provisioned over copper.
5. Create a 31-day automatic grant of a request to discontinue services.
6. Clarify discontinuance requests to ensure they do not adversely affect the public.
7. Revise the rules applicable to emergency discontinuance of services during and after disasters.
8. Eliminate redundant rules and regulations related to discontinuing services.

In probably the most consequential part of the order, the FCC is preempting all state laws and processes that hinder telephone companies from decommissioning copper networks. Taken as a whole, these new rules greatly reduce the paperwork involved with decommissioning copper networks and related services, which should speed up the stated intent of the big telephone companies to get out of the copper business.