AT&T, Verizon, Frontier, and Lumen all get hammered after lead-cable reports.

AT&T’s stock price hit a 29-year low on Friday and continued to sink today as investors fled telecom stocks on reports that cleanups of lead-covered telephone cables could cost the industry tens of billions of dollars.

  • Odusei@lemmy.worldEnglish
    181·
    1 year ago

    The losses were spurred by a Wall Street Journal investigation into lead-sheathed cables installed by phone companies across the US many decades ago.

    The industry started phasing out lead in the 1950s, but the WSJ said it found evidence of more than 2,000 lead-covered cables and said there “are likely far more throughout the country.”

    Fan-fucking-tastic. Y’all excited to bail out the telcos again?

    • grue@lemmy.worldEnglish
      181·
      1 year ago

      The industry started phasing out lead in the 1950s, but the WSJ said it found evidence of more than 2,000 lead-covered cables and said there “are likely far more throughout the country.”

      Fan-fucking-tastic. Y’all excited to bail out the telcos again?

      But how can it be that there are still lead-covered cables everywhere? We already paid them billions of dollars in subsidies to rip out the plain old telephone cables in favor of fiber several times now. They would never just pocket those subsidies instead of actually modernizing the network! \s

      • kaknife@lemmy.worldEnglish
        31·
        1 year ago

        Typically, the last mile is often not fiber. Telecoms are generally required to continue non-voip land line service. Its one of those regulations that, despite having good intentions, end up causing issues.

        • grue@lemmy.worldEnglish
          3·
          1 year ago

          Telecoms are generally required to continue non-voip land line service.

          Nah, I can personally confirm that that’s no longer correct. My house didn’t have analog telephone service but still had a phone line running to it, until one day a few years ago I went outside and noticed that AT&T had taken the wire clear off the pole and left it laying in my yard. They clearly have no intention of ever providing such service in my area again, even if somebody wanted it.