AT&T has been denying for a while that it plans to abandon FTTN (Fiber to the Node), which would use existing copper lines to deliver IPTV and high-bandwidth Internet access to homes (last mile), in favor of Fiber to the Home (FTTH). The reason behind this denial is simple: investors are worried about short-term costs and profitability.
In the long run, AT&T will need to deliver much larger pipes than copper is capable of and will likely begin to lose ground to cable providers once again. (They’d made great progress in 2006 due to lower DSL prices for residential customers.) Rumors are once again circulating that AT&T plans to abandon U-verse and FTTN and move to a better, more capable and sustainable broadband strategy. I’ll believe it when I see it; but for now I’ll just keep on blogging, and hope enough grassroots IT evangelists like me speak up and get noticed. Most investors are not day traders, and in five years AT&T will be a much more profitable company if it offers FTTH. That fact ought to make investors and customers alike feel all warm & fuzzy.