Telefónica has reaffirmed its commitment to transform its fixed infrastructure by completely switching to Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) and closing all its copper exchanges by 2024.
The copper switch-off will coincide with the company’s centenary. The move is in line with Telefónica’s strategy to increase the performance and speed of service while reducing energy consumption and its carbon footprint.
José María Álvarez-Pallete, Chairman of Telefónica, commented:
“Telefónica continues to make progress in its transformation to maintain its leadership. The new digital era flows through our network.
Telefónica is a pioneer in the application of artificial intelligence to next-generation networks and is a key player in the decarbonisation of the economy.
The closure of our last copper central offices was another of Telefónica’s commitments, and Telefónica always fulfils its commitments and is prepared for the future.”
Telefónica began its copper switch-off in 2014 and has 3,329 central offices remaining. By April 19, 2024, Telefónica will have achieved a network reconversion after closing a total of 8,532 exchanges.
Emilio Gayo, Chairman of Telefónica España, said:
“At Telefónica España we are committed to offering the best connectivity to all our customers.
With the announcement of the shutdown of all copper exchanges and the decision to stop adding copper, we are moving towards a 100 percent fibre fixed network.”
Fibre brings increased speed, improved connection stability and bandwidth, as well as a significant reduction in latency. A single fibre exchange can serve the same number of accesses as four copper exchanges.
Telefónica’s fibre network reduces the company’s environmental impact by up to 94 percent in Spain—driven by the company’s efforts to improve energy efficiency, technology design and implementation, and investment in renewables. Telefónica is aiming to achieve zero-net emissions throughout its value chain by 2040.
(Photo by Ralph (Ravi) Kayden on Unsplash)
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