Summary

As ultra-high speed network deployments continue to progress, operators have to decide on the fate of their legacy copper networks. Literally, they must manage their exit from the copper era.

Aging copper-based infrastructures are increasingly costly to maintain, especially when the operator is faced with rising customer expectations for network performance and quality of service impacted by FTTP standards. Over the past two years, incumbent operators have started to announce their copper switch-off dates and to implement the decommissioning of their legacy networks.

However, NGA deployment plans are not proceeding at the same pace everywhere, and although migration to fibre is proceeding steadily, a significant proportion of broadband access is still based on ADSL.

Based on operators’ first-hand experiences with copper switch-off initiatives in Europe, Asia and North America, this report aims to provide an in-depth view of how copper decommissioning initiatives take place, what is at stake for the various parties, and how players balance the many diverse and sometimes countervailing interests at work behind the switch-off of legacy networks.

Geographic area

• Asia-Pacific
• Europe
• North America

Players

• AT&T
• China Mobile
• China Telecom
• China Unicom
• DNA
• DT
• Openreach
• Orange
• Portugal Telecom
• Slovak Telekom
• Swisscom
• Telecom Italia
• Telefónica
• Telenor
• Telstra
• Telia
• Verizon

Other details

Copper switch-off
Economic analysis and operator experiences of decommissioning copper
By Santiago Remis, Consultant
55 pages - Published on 02 June 2022

• Reference: M00049MRA
• Delivery: on the DigiWorld Interactive platform
• Languages available: English
• Tags: copper decommissioning, copper network, copper switch-off, copper-based infrastructures, fibre, legacy network, NGA deployment

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Table of Contents

1. Executive summary

2. Copper switch-off: current status
2.1. The copper network legacy
2.2. Copper infrastructure and broadband technologies
2.3. The demand for gigabit broadband continues to increase
2.4. What is ‘copper switch-off’?
2.5. Maintaining both fibre and legacy networks puts operators under pressure
2.6. Decommissioning copper networks should enable significant savings
2.7. Decommissioning copper involves four major steps
2.8. Client migration is a critical aspect of legacy network shutdown
2.9. The complexity of copper switch-off processes demands investment efforts
2.10. The entire telecommunications ecosystem is impacted by the copper switch-off

3. Drivers and barriers to decommissioning copper
3.1. Switching off copper is driven by financial and political considerations
3.2. However, switching off legacy networks demands long-term investments
3.3. Copper switch-off becomes profitable in the long term

4. Worldwide copper switch-off outlook
4.1. European region overview
4.2. APAC region overview
4.3. North America region overview

5. Copper switch-off initiatives – Case studies
5.1. China Telecom – China
5.2. Orange – France
5.3. Telenor – Norway
5.4. Telefónica – Spain
5.5. Telia – Sweden
5.6. Openreach – UK

6. Conclusions and IDATE Insights