Modernize Cable Infrastructure 

By Rohan Naval

On September 29, 2025, Digital Liberty submitted comments to the Federal Communications Commission on copper line retirement plans. As the market opts into more efficient fiber cables, the insistence on prolonging the modernization process prevents consumers from accessing better technology.  

Telecommunications and broadcasting are already in the process of leaving copper lines for wireless, fiber, and satellite technology. These networks are both costly and duplicative. As a result, most proposals to remove copper lines are unopposed, leading them to be merely symbolic. Such proceedings cost time, money in the form of legal fees, and come at an opportunity cost of deploying fiber.  

The Commission itself has acknowledged that in processing over 400 network change disclosure filings, it has never once received an opposing comment despite public notices posted by the Wireline Competition Bureau. This is not a sign of a healthy regulatory process; it is the sign of a bureaucratic ritual that has consumed its original purpose with proceduralism and imposed significant costs for no demonstrable benefit.  

In addition to the lethargic bureaucratic process, the current regulatory structure punishes companies that do not hold on to this legacy technology. As it stands, they put downward pressure on investment in 5G networks, preventing Americans from realizing the full benefit of 5G programs. Any government aims, such as expanding connectivity to rural communities, are best served by deregulatory efforts. 

Freeing providers from the obligation to maintain two duplicative networks—one fiber, one copper—will immediately free up billions of dollars for new deployment. This is not a theoretical benefit; it is the practical reality of capital allocation. This capital will flow directly into building out fiber to unserved and underserved communities, closing the digital divide far more effectively and efficiently than any government subsidy program. 

An accelerated copper retirement program will also help address the recent uptick in copper theft. Industry voices have called on regulators to enhance penalties for copper theft, but we argue that more sustainable policies would also include increasing the global copper supply to crash the market price and streamlining the retirement of copper lines to help the industry. This will also help the fiber optic cable rollout, as they are often victims of theft for related reasons.  

The global rise in copper prices has created a black market for copper stolen from wireline networks by desperate (often drug-addicted) criminals. Fetching a high price at the scrape yard, copper stolen from our networks pays for their next score on the street. Frustratingly, fiber optic cables are often damaged by thieves looking for copper in the wires (despite having no resale value) because the exteriors appear similar. 

Digital Liberty calls on the FCC to eliminate filing requirements, remove notice periods, and eliminate the prolonged retirement process to help American consumers access next-generation technology today.  
 
Read our full comments here.