The end of ADSL will be in 2024
The rise in the price of energy has put ADSL in checkmate even more. Basically, because the consumption that the copper plants represent for Movistar is much higher than what the fiber network supposes right now. For this very reason, Telefónica has established a new deadline to definitively complete the migration of your customers to FTTH.
Last week, the meeting of the Telefónica Spain Network and Operations Inter-company Commission took place, in which Movistar spoke about what its plans will be for next 2023. Although, it also made it clear what the date for the migration to fiber: April 2024. In less than a year and a half, we will say goodbye forever to the beloved ADSL connection of the operator. Therefore, the end of this network has been accelerated almost a year before.
And it is that, in the last months, we have been seeing how the ADSL continued to die slowly. Already in 2017, despite the fact that it was announced in 2015, up to 20 power plants had already been closed. Right now, there are less than 1 million ADSL lines active.
The requirements of the CNCM
It must be taken into account that 85% of customers are already migrating to fiber, so there are only around 1.12 million of its users left to switch to this connection, which began to be deployed several years ago. In any case, the CNMC has already made clear what the requirements were for put an end to ADSL copper exchanges:
- A central can only be closed when more than 25% of the clients of that central connect by alternative means to the copper network.
- In the event that there are alternative operators unbundling the loop, Telefónica must continue to provide this wholesale service for 5 years and with a 6-month storage period.
- If there are no alternative operators in the plant, the warranty period is reduced to 1 year with the relevant 6 months of storage.
In addition, the sale of the copper plants represents a significant benefit for the telecommunications company, since they achieve significant real estate capital gains. And if we add the energy cost to this, we understand Movistar’s rush to permanently turn off the ADSL in Spain.