Sean Buckley

CenturyLink is replacing its aging copper-based wireline facilities in seven cities, potentially setting itself up for a wave of protests from consumers and competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) that use existing facilities -- similar to those faced by Verizon and AT&T as they transition their legacy networks.
Two of the states where it will replace copper with fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) facilities are Minnesota and Washington, which are part of a broader initiative CenturyLink has taken to support 1 Gbps speed services for residential and business customers. In 2014, CenturyLink announced that it will extend its FTTH service footprint to residential and business customers in select locations in 16 cities. As part of replacement strategy, CenturyLink is deploying a FTTH overlay architecture that the company says will enable it to support more of its customers transitioning to broadband services. "Growth in the area requires CenturyLink to install Fiber Based Access to its customer," CenturyLink said in a Federal Communications Commission filing. "The copper loops will be replaced by fiber loops as customers migrate to higher speed Broadband Internet Access (BIA)." CenturyLink added that unbundled copper loops "may not be available to an individual address after the planned completion/retirement date." Outside of Minnesota and Washington, CenturyLink filed separate copper retirement notices in six other states: Alabama, Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

AT&T and the Communications Workers of America (CWA) have begun the negotiation process for a new contract covering 2,000 of the telecommunication's Internet workers nationwide.

Lisa Bolton, VP of CWA telecommunications and technologies in Bedminster (NJ) said that similar to other contract negotiations, workers covered under the contract are looking for a contract that provides job security, affordable health care and retirement benefits. "AT&T is a very successful company, leading the telecommunications and video industry. Our members have helped build that success," Bolton said. "It's our turn, and it's time for AT&T to deliver a contract that gives workers at NIC our fair share." AT&T Internet is just one of several contracts the telecommunication company is in the process of negotiating with the CWA.

Comcast's and Level 3's pending acquisitions of Time Warner Cable and TW Telecom could have a major effect on the status of the top US Ethernet providers, reports Vertical Systems Group in its Mid-2014 US Carrier Ethernet Leaderboard.

When the deals are completed, these service providers will immediately enhance their Ethernet footprints and service sets.

Canby Telcom, a regional telecommunications company serving the northern Willamette Valley of Oregon, is the latest service provider to launch a 1 Gbps-based fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) service, providing service to more than 2,500 local residents and businesses.

To deliver the FTTH service, Canby is using Adtran's Gigabit hardware portfolio, including the Total Access 5004 platform.

"This development is a tremendous asset to existing businesses, education and the overall community economic health by retaining local jobs and attracting even more industries and new job opportunities to our town," said Renate Mengelberg, economic-development director with the city of Canby.

Syracuse (NY) is tired of waiting for its two local service providers Verizon and Time Warner Cable to give it better broadband service so Mayor Stephanie Miner (D) is investigating how the city could build its own fiber-based broadband network.

Mayor Miner said that high-speed Internet is "the modern day equivalent of infrastructure," adding: "It's clear that broadband is going to be a foundation of our new economy."

AT&T has made it official: San Antonio is the next stop on its 1 Gigabit fiber to the home (FTTH) network journey, the latest in a string of locations in Texas where the telecommunications company said it will bring the service.

AT&T will deploy additional fiber and necessary last mile network electronics to its existing network in San Antonio. City leaders lauded the deal as an example of large telecommunications companies and local communities working together to drive new service capabilities.

Interest in dark fiber has reemerged in telecom due to the escalating demands for business services and by wireless operators that need bigger backhaul pipes to keep up with the insatiable demand for wireless data.

Just how big is the dark fiber opportunity? According to Atlantic-ACM US Long Haul Wholesale Carrier Report Card, 27 percent of the participating wholesale buyers reported purchasing dark fiber, and 57 percent of those already buying anticipate increased spends on dark fiber in 2015.

The three largest US-based telecommunications companies -- AT&T, Verizon and CenturyLink -- have chosen to sell an array of fiber-based Ethernet or wavelength services. Fedor Smith, president of Atlantic ACM, wrote that their concern is that they would give an advantage to a nearby competitor.

Verizon's ongoing copper-to-fiber migration in the District of Columbia is now the subject of a Public Service Commission (PSC) investigation on how it will affect local consumers and businesses.

The PSC plans to hold a two-day evidentiary hearing related to the use of Verizon's existing copper network plant to deliver telecom services and its plans to transition customers' services, including traditional POTS voice, from copper facilities to fiber facilities. In its order, the PSC said it "applauds the introduction of new technologies for telecommunications in both the regulated market and in the competitive unregulated market.

Google Fiber overcame a major hurdle in bringing its service to Portland (OR) as the City Council voted 5-0 to approve a franchise agreement, reports the Portland Business Journal.

Under the terms of the 10-year agreement, which extends until 2024, the city will allow Google to begin plotting out where it would place huts that would house electronics to deliver services to residents and "fiberhoods."

One of the key pieces of getting the agreement done was that Portland city commissioners had to agree to tone down some of their restrictions on the placement of utility cabinets along rights of way. Although the franchise agreement was approved, there's no promise that Google Fiber will actually deploy service in Portland.

"This franchise agreement is an important step along the path to Fiber, so it's great that it's been approved," Google spokeswoman Jenna Wandres told the Portland Business Journal in an email. "There's still a lot of work to do beyond this one agreement, but we hope to provide an update about whether we can bring Fiber here later this year."

AT&T is feeling encouraged by its initial rollout of its 1 Gbps fiber-based broadband service and a more favorable permitting process from local communities.

AT&T CFO John Stephens told investors that these factors are making it more bullish about the opportunity to potentially extend service into new markets outside of Austin (TX). Like other telecommunications companies, AT&T needs to get permitting approval from local communities to get access to necessary rights of way (ROWs) along public streets and utility poles to lay fiber and install related network electronics.

"In Austin, we were able to do a success-based build with some of the new streamlined permitting, right of way easement processes," Stephens said. "What we have seen is great adoption by our customers of high-speed products, strong customer satisfaction scores and appreciation for the product."

The early success and acceptance of the Gigapower service in Austin combined with its ongoing U-verse broadband expansion efforts has driven the telco to consider deploying FTTH in other markets.