US carrier AT&T has reiterated the importance of its copper retirement plans, as the company revealed that just one percent of eligible customers are still using legacy copper voice technology.

The carrier said it has discontinued copper services in more than 500 communities across the country, representing more than 1.3 million locations across 18 states.

AT&T has made no secret of its plans to wean customers off the legacy technology in favor of more modern technology such as its fiber offering or fixed wireless access (FWA).

The carrier has plans to reach 60 million locations with its fiber across the US by 2030, with this total close to 40 million as of now.

The company's retirement of the legacy kit appears to be working. As noted by Light Reading, when the company last provided a similar update on its copper footprint in December 2024, around five percent were still using the legacy copper voice services.

AT&T is aiming to retire the majority of its copper network by 2029, though is finding that tougher in California, where it's obliged to continue to provide copper services in the state by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).

The company has also previously signed a deal to sell more than 70 of its copper network Central Offices in an $850 million sale-leaseback deal.

"Copper-based networks are outdated, decades-old technology that is less reliable and takes longer to repair than fiber or wireless, leading to prolonged disruptions for customers," said Susan Johnson, senior executive vice president for transformation and supply chain, AT&T, in a blog post.

"In fact, wireless service repair times are more than four times faster than copper. Modern networks are also less vulnerable to damage and copper theft. And, when there is an outage, they can be supported by temporary wireless facilities that help keep communities connected."

As touched on by Johnson, copper theft has been a huge headache for AT&T in the last few years, though it is not an exclusive issue to the carrier or even in the US. The operator has logged thousands of incidents of theft, including one incident in October where one of its copper vaults was broken into.

Johnson added that it also takes the carrier longer to restore copper infrastructure during natural disasters such as hurricanes.

Providing an example, she said that during last year's California wildfires, AT&T was able to quickly deploy temporary cell sites and restore wireless coverage in the majority of affected areas within three days of the outage, while restoring its copper services took several months.