FCC Moves to Modernize Networks through Deregulation

By James Erwin

Yesterday, the FCC announced plans to scrap old regulations standing in the way of network modernization. Peeling back layers of reporting requirements and government approvals will speed up the transition from copper to all-fiber networks. Given the recent rise in copper theft, this comes not a moment too soon.

On September 29, 2025, Digital Liberty submitted comments to the Federal Communications Commission on copper line retirement plans. We argued at the time that as the market opts into more efficient fiber cables, the insistence on prolonging the modernization process prevents consumers from accessing better technology. For example:

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.  

Chairman Brendan Carr’s office announced via press release that the commission will vote a package of deregulatory actions at this month’s open meeting. The new rules would eliminating reporting requirements and grant blanket permissions for networks to upgrade their equipment. That they ever needed a permission slip from the federal government just to replace outdated technology was ridiculous, a vestige of New Deal-era thinking. Chairman Carr has led an effort to dismantle much of this mother-may-I approach to telecommunications regulation over the past year, but much remains to be done.

Relaxing utterly useless rules (again, no one has ever objected to a copper retirement notice) to accelerate network modernization is a no-brainer. Copper is a slow, legacy conduit for the electrons powering the internet. Fiber optic cables have long been the industry standard and should be fully adopted as network owners raise the capital to do it. The FCC should not make them ask permission just to make an investment that objectively better serves their customers.

The rulemaking would also include state preemption provisions so that states could not, for whatever reason, attempt to maintain complicated regulatory regimes for simple network upgrades. To allay concerns that emergency services might be disrupted for legacy landlines, the rules also contain a grandfathering provision for some old lines. In their current form, the new rules are simple, clear, and far-sighted.

Copper retirement is especially urgent with the recent rise in theft and network vandalism. Rising copper prices have incentivized petty criminals to strip copper wiring wherever they can find it and sell it to scrap yards. In the process, they cut cables and disrupt service. Even where fiber has already replaced copper, networks are still vandalized by thieves cutting into cables looking for copper.

Industry voices and trade associations have called for increased penalties for copper theft, such as classifying broadband connections as critical infrastructure. This makes disrupting them not only a federal crime but in certain cases terrorism. Industry has also lobbied Congress and state governments to crack down on scrap yards buying cheap copper that was clearly stolen.

Cracking down on theft can provide a disincentive to theft, but there are also more effective methods. One is to attack the problem at the root by lowering the price of copper. The federal government can do this by permitting more copper mines and reducing costly regulations on that industry. But this is unsustainable in the long run as copper is a commodity whose price is vulnerable to global supply and demand shocks.

The other solution is to simply remove copper from our networks.

Stepping up enforcement helps. Permitting more mines to increase copper supply and lower price helps even more. But removing copper entirely will eventually solve the problem. There will be an adjustment period while would-be copper thieves continue to vandalize cables, but eventually behaviors will change when the futility and opportunity cost of digging for non-existent copper becomes apparent.

In short, in 2026, the FCC is finally making it legal to replace outdated, slow, and valuable copper with modern, fast, and cheap fiber without a permission slip from the government. It should be a no-brainer to support.