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AT&T Sounds Death Knell for Plain Old Telephone Service

The company that built out the original telephone network and ruled it as a monopoly, AT&T, is asking the FCC to phase out the circuit-switched legacy network and transition to broadband and IP-based communications.

“With each passing day, more and more communications services migrate to broadband and IP-based services, leaving the public switched telephone network (“PSTN”) and plain-old telephone service (“POTS”) as relics of a by-gone era,” the company wrote in comments filed with the FCC.

Congress has charged the FCC with creating a National Broadband Plan and AT&T was commenting on that plan. The commission must martial its resources to ensure the “necessary deployment of the enormous amount of infrastructure necessary” for service to be available to 100 percent of the population, according to AT&T.

“A key component of that strategy is the orderly transition away from, and retirement of, the PSTN,” AT&T wrote. “A smooth transition to an all-broadband world is essential to attaining the goal of universal broadband service.”

The telecommunications firm also called on the FCC to structure the POTS be phase out similar to the transitions to digital TV broadcasting and to digital cellular services.

“Perhaps the single most important feature of Commission action at this time is the establishment of a firm deadline at which point the transition will be complete,” AT&T wrote.

Wireless backhaul providers would benefit from getting rid of the circuit-switched equipment. An efficient IP-based telephone system would fall in line with the use of packet-switched traffic in the Internet and in wireless systems, leading to increased backhaul traffic, according to Larry Swasey, principal, Visant Strategies.

“Any positive move we make for the landline network to make it more efficient would be a beautiful thing for backhaul providers, because it will provide more traffic for them and allow them to streamline their product lines,” Swasey said.

AT&T noted that getting rid of POTS makes sense not only from a technological standpoint but also from a business standpoint.

“While broadband usage … is growing every day, the business model for legacy phone services is in a death spiral,” according to AT&T. “Revenues from POTS are plummeting as customers cut their landlines in favor of the convenience and advanced features of wireless and VoIP services. At the same time, due to the high fixed costs of providing POTS, every customer who abandons this service raises the average cost-per-line to serve the remaining customers.”