According to AT&T executives, the carrier is working to reduce its copper footprint by 50 percent by 2025 and plans to use the savings from decommissioning efforts to grow its fiber and 5G networks.
The move will allow the carrier to rationalize a total cost base of $6 billion, according to the CEO of AT&T's communications division. Although the project is still in its early stages, AT&T has so far removed more than 9,000 network elements, reducing more than 4 billion kilowatt hours annually. "These actions have not only improved cost efficiencies, but have led to more meaningful opportunities for our future. Our teams in these network areas are able to reinvest their time into building our next-generation fiber and 5G networks, which are the platform for future growth," he said.
He declined to say what percentage of the overall copper network has been taken offline so far, but said that activity in this area will grow "tenfold" in 2022 and "could peak in 2024. The initial decommissioning efforts are focused on areas where AT&T sees little or no customer demand for copper services. It is also phasing out copper in areas where it is rolling out new fiber infrastructure. So far, AT&T has not seen the need to forcibly migrate customers. "That motivation is happening on its own. Customers recognize they need that capability that fiber brings," he says.
Today, about 20 percent of AT&T's network footprint, or about 16 million locations, are served by fiber. By 2025, AT&T aims to increase that number to cover 75 percent of its network with fiber or 5G. AT&T plans to roll out wireless-based "capture offerings" in former copper markets where it does not deploy fiber to serve customers who may be left out of the loop due to its copper retirement plans.
AT&T's chief financial officer noted that it plans to spend $3 billion to $4 billion annually on fiber as it works toward its previously announced goal of reaching a total of 30 million homes with the technology by 2025. The operator is adding 2.6 million fiber sites in India. Looking ahead to 2021, executives said AT&T expects to add 3.5 million to 4 million new fiber channels per year as it works toward its goal.
AT&T's executive vice president said the carrier has seen strong performance from its early fiber builds. About two-thirds of net new subscribers are AT&T broadband additions, and 12-month penetration is about twice as high as the historical 12 percent rate for the same period. In addition to boosting AT&T's broadband business, the fiber rollout is expected to be a boon for wireless.
