Spoom2 It is hard to pin down where exactly the situation is today. I don't see them rebuilding or expanding copper infrastructure, just maintaining it. Now, if the wildfires take out the infrastructure and facilities, then there will probably be a transition to fiber which of course needs power at the premises to operate. That's how it works in 3rd world countries. My last landline installation was delayed two weeks simply because they did not have enough lines on the pole in my alley going to the central office. My opinion is that there will be downsizing but not really a phase out. If landlines are phased out it will happen much later than 20/20. The communications dept at my employer says they haven't heard anything. I would assume it would take a lot of planning and ample time to switch my company over. All the wiring and equipment is in place. My employer has over 10,000 landlines at over 600 locations. My landline bill was $26 (including taxes and fees) two years ago for unlimited local calls, caller ID and call waiting. I don't really know what this means but I think instead of phasing out regular landlines they are going to price people out of them.
And, when I got my new landline last year I was told that for the first time AT&T was retraining representatives on how to take orders and service the traditional landlines on their system. AT&T actually had a copper to fiber migration website that has since been taken down. There is no new information on this on the web. Probably being kept quiet until they move in Sacramento to get permission to shut it down once fiber is widely available. I wanted to change something on my landline billing and he told me I was grandfathered and if I made any changes, I could not get it back because they were planning to end copper service soon.i.e. I found this out a few weeks ago when talking to an ATT agent (actually based in California, not one of their off-shore call centers.). Verizon offloaded its copper wire in Southern California to Frontier which is on the verge of collapse. 20 or so states have allowed them to phase out. Apparently FCC allows them to do it if they can show alternatives, which is why they are pushing their fiber lines as the alternative with digital phone service (dead in fire, earthquake etc).
Lots of coverage of Illinois just allowing them to do it, which eliminated the life line low cost phone for low income people.
There are actually a lot of reports that AT&T plans to phase out its entire copper wire phone system by 2020, including California that remains one of the only states where it is the dominate carrier that hasn’t yet gotten permission to phase it out.