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When a hurricane knocks out electricity, communications networks face challenges that go far beyond damaged cell towers.

Power outages, flooding, fallen trees, blocked roads and damaged fiber connections can all disrupt the infrastructure that keeps wireless customers connected. Even towers that survive the storm may lose service when commercial power or the connections supporting them fail.

Hurricane Isaias made landfall near Destin, Florida, on October 9, 2026, as a Category 2 storm with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph. Hundreds of thousands of customers experienced power outages as emergency crews began assessing damage and restoring critical infrastructure.

Just one day earlier, SpaceX's agreement to acquire nationwide 800 MHz spectrum had brought renewed attention to satellite-to-phone connectivity and the future of wireless competition.

The timing highlighted an important question: Could satellite connectivity help keep people connected when terrestrial networks are damaged or unavailable?

 

 

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What You’ll Learn in This Episode

What Happens to Cellular Networks During a Hurricane?

Wireless service depends on multiple layers of infrastructure.

Cell towers and antennas connect devices to the network, but those sites also need electricity and connections to the broader telecommunications system.

When hurricanes damage power lines, flood equipment sites or interrupt backhaul connections, customers can lose coverage even if nearby towers remain standing.

Restoring service often requires repairing several interconnected systems.

Why Power Outages Can Cause Wireless Outages

Commercial electricity is one of the most important dependencies for cellular networks.

Carriers use backup batteries and generators to help keep sites operating during power interruptions. However, backup power has limitations, especially when outages last for extended periods or crews cannot safely reach equipment.

Hurricane Isaias demonstrated how widespread power disruption can complicate recovery efforts across multiple communities.

How Wireless Carriers Restore Service After Storms

Network restoration involves more than repairing damaged towers.

Carriers may deploy generators, reposition portable network equipment, reroute traffic and adjust network configurations to preserve available capacity.

Technicians also have to coordinate with utility companies and emergency responders while navigating flooded roads, debris and other hazards.

Restoration priorities often include emergency communications and the areas experiencing the greatest service disruption.

T-Mobile's T-Satellite Shows Another Connectivity Option

During Hurricane Isaias, T-Mobile reported that more than 16,000 people used T-Satellite to exchange over 38,000 text messages in a single day.

The company also reported thousands of automated network adjustments as it worked to maintain service.

Those figures illustrate how satellite connectivity can provide another communication option when terrestrial coverage is unavailable.

However, the ability to send satellite messages should not be confused with having the full capabilities of a traditional cellular network.

SpaceX's Spectrum Agreement Could Expand Starlink Mobile

SpaceX's October 8 agreement to acquire nationwide 800 MHz spectrum represents another step in its broader mobile connectivity ambitions.

The deal, reportedly valued at approximately $8 billion, could provide additional spectrum resources for satellite-to-device services, subject to regulatory approval and technical implementation.

Spectrum is a critical ingredient in wireless communications, but acquiring it doesn't automatically create a nationwide replacement for existing cellular networks.

Building a competitive service also requires compatible devices, satellite capacity, reliable performance, network integration and commercial distribution.

Why Satellite-to-Phone Connectivity Matters

Traditional cellular networks work best where sufficient infrastructure can be deployed and maintained.

That leaves challenges in remote communities, wilderness areas, offshore locations and certain stretches of highway.

Satellite networks can potentially provide coverage in some of those locations without requiring a nearby terrestrial cell tower.

During disasters, that additional connectivity path could also become valuable when conventional networks are damaged.

Satellite Connectivity Still Has Limitations

Satellite-to-phone technology is advancing, but customers need realistic expectations.

Available capabilities can depend on the provider, compatible device, location, service plan and network conditions.

Some services focus on messaging, while broader voice and data capabilities are developing. Satellite connections may also face limitations related to capacity, obstructions, indoor reception and other environmental conditions.

A satellite connection should not automatically be presented as a complete substitute for traditional wireless service.

Could SpaceX Compete With Traditional Wireless Carriers?

SpaceX's expansion into mobile connectivity raises questions about how the wireless competitive landscape could change.

AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile already operate extensive terrestrial networks, support millions of customer relationships and have significant retail, service and distribution operations.

SpaceX brings satellite infrastructure, launch capabilities and a different approach to expanding geographic reach.

The long-term competitive outcome remains uncertain, but satellite connectivity could influence how wireless coverage and network resilience are marketed.

Traditional Wireless Carriers Are Also Investing in Satellite

Satellite connectivity isn't exclusively a SpaceX strategy.

AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile have announced a joint venture intended to help expand direct-to-device satellite connectivity and improve integration between satellite and terrestrial wireless networks.

That collaboration demonstrates how the industry is exploring satellite as an additional layer of connectivity rather than treating it solely as a replacement for cellular networks.

What Authorized Dealers Need to Understand

As satellite services receive more attention, customers are likely to ask increasingly specific questions.

Can their existing phone connect to a satellite? Will messaging work during a major storm? Can they make regular calls? Does satellite connectivity work indoors? Is the service included in their wireless plan?

Those questions create opportunities for more informed conversations.

Dealers don't need to be satellite engineers, but they do need to understand the differences between currently available services and capabilities that are still being developed.

Accurate expectations are particularly important when customers are making decisions about emergency communications.

 

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Building a fiber network that reaches more than 60 million locations requires far more than installing cable. It takes years of planning, construction crews, permits, equipment, access to capital, and the ability to coordinate enormous infrastructure projects across multiple markets.

AT&T has been assembling several of those pieces through a series of major agreements and acquisitions.

The company completed its $5.75 billion acquisition of substantially all of Lumen's Mass Markets fiber business, announced a multi-year agreement with Corning worth more than $3 billion, and reached an agreement with Global Infrastructure Partners and CPP Investments to establish a new fiber infrastructure joint venture.

Each development addresses a different challenge in building a national fiber network. Together, they help explain how AT&T intends to expand its footprint while changing the economics of who builds, owns, funds, and operates the infrastructure.

For Authorized Dealers, the implications extend beyond construction. As the fiber footprint expands into additional markets, new opportunities can emerge in places where AT&T Fiber wasn't previously available.

 

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What You’ll Learn in This Episode

AT&T's Ambition Goes Beyond Traditional Fiber Expansion

AT&T is pursuing a fiber footprint exceeding 60 million locations by the end of 2030.

Reaching that scale requires a combination of organic network construction, acquisitions, partnerships, and new financing structures. No single agreement can accomplish the entire expansion.

Understanding how those pieces fit together provides a clearer picture of where the company is investing and why.

The Lumen Acquisition Adds More Than Customers

In February 2026, AT&T completed its $5.75 billion acquisition of substantially all of Lumen's Mass Markets fiber business.

The transaction brought more than one million fiber subscribers and more than four million fiber locations across 11 states.

It also provided additional fiber construction capabilities, which can support future expansion. Instead of beginning every market from scratch, AT&T acquired an existing customer base, network footprint, and operational resources.

Corning Supplies the Physical Foundation

Fiber expansion depends on the availability of enormous quantities of specialized materials.

AT&T's multi-year agreement with Corning, valued at more than $3 billion, helps secure fiber and cable for its continued network construction.

The agreement illustrates a basic reality of telecommunications infrastructure: ambitious coverage targets require dependable manufacturing and supply chains long before customers can purchase service.

The New Joint Venture Brings Infrastructure Investors Into the Picture

AT&T, Global Infrastructure Partners, and CPP Investments have agreed to create a fiber joint venture combining Gigapower and Forged Fiber 37.

Under the announced structure, AT&T will own 50% of the new company, while GIP and CPP Investments will collectively own the remaining 50%.

The joint venture is intended to operate as a wholesale commercial open-access fiber provider, helping AT&T expand beyond its traditional wireline territory while sharing the capital requirements with infrastructure investors.

What Open-Access Fiber Actually Means

In a traditional vertically integrated model, the same company may build the network, own the infrastructure, and sell internet service to customers.

Open-access fiber separates some of those responsibilities.

A network company builds and operates the physical fiber infrastructure, while internet service providers can use that network to deliver services to customers under commercial agreements.

That means the company providing a customer's internet service doesn't necessarily have to own the fiber carrying the connection.

Why Infrastructure Investors Want Fiber Networks

Fiber infrastructure requires substantial upfront investment, but well-positioned networks can support long-term demand for broadband connectivity.

That makes fiber potentially attractive to investors seeking exposure to essential infrastructure.

By partnering with investors, telecommunications companies can share the cost of network expansion while continuing to focus on service delivery, customer acquisition, and other parts of their businesses.

A Capital-Light Approach Can Expand AT&T's Reach

AT&T describes the new joint venture as a capital-light approach to expanding beyond its traditional service areas.

Rather than funding every new network entirely through its own balance sheet, AT&T can work with partners that invest in and operate the infrastructure.

That structure can create opportunities to enter markets where the economics of a fully company-owned build might otherwise be more difficult.

The Network and the Service Are Becoming Separate Businesses

One of the most important trends in telecommunications is the growing distinction between owning infrastructure and owning the customer relationship.

The company manufacturing the fiber, the investors financing construction, the organization operating the network, and the provider selling internet service may all be different businesses.

We've seen versions of this model in wireless, where carriers use tower infrastructure they don't necessarily own. Fiber has different economics and operating requirements, but the broader principle is similar.

A provider can serve customers without owning every piece of infrastructure involved.

What AT&T's Expansion Means for Authorized Dealers

For Authorized Dealers, network expansion creates potential sales opportunities, but availability must be verified at the address level.

Acquisitions, joint ventures, and open-access networks can introduce AT&T Fiber into markets outside its historical footprint.

That makes it important for dealers to stay informed about coverage changes rather than relying entirely on where service was available previously.

Today's Infrastructure Investment Creates Tomorrow's Customers

Fiber networks don't generate customer relationships simply by being built.

Once locations become serviceable, providers still need to acquire subscribers, explain available products, and help customers make purchasing decisions.

That's where the network expansion story connects directly to the sales channel.

The infrastructure being financed and constructed today creates the markets where providers and Authorized Dealers will compete for customers tomorrow.

 

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AT&T. Verizon. T-Mobile.

Three companies that spend billions of dollars competing for wireless customers are now working together on something that could help shape the next generation of mobile connectivity.

The carriers have entered into a joint venture focused on direct-to-device satellite connectivity. The goal is to help satellite and terrestrial wireless networks work together more effectively, expanding coverage into places where building traditional cellular infrastructure can be difficult or uneconomical.

At first, competitors collaborating might seem unusual. But cooperation has always existed underneath the competition in telecommunications. Carriers have relied on roaming agreements, network interconnection, technical standards and shared infrastructure for decades.

Now that cooperation is extending beyond the terrestrial network.

It's going to space.

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What You’ll Learn in This Episode

Why Wireless Competitors Sometimes Work Together

AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile compete aggressively for customers, but that doesn't mean their networks exist entirely independently.

Wireless carriers have a long history of cooperation through roaming agreements, interconnection and common technical standards. Those arrangements help customers remain connected even when they're outside their carrier's primary network footprint.

Satellite connectivity introduces a new version of the same challenge.

The New Joint Venture Is Focused on Direct-to-Device Satellite

The AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile joint venture is designed to help expand direct-to-device satellite connectivity across the United States.

Instead of requiring a traditional satellite phone or dedicated terminal, direct-to-device technology aims to connect compatible mobile devices through satellites when terrestrial coverage isn't available.

The carriers plan to coordinate limited spectrum resources and establish common technical specifications that can make integration between satellite and terrestrial wireless networks easier.

The Goal Is to Reduce Wireless Dead Zones

Modern cellular networks cover enormous portions of the country, but universal terrestrial coverage is difficult.

Remote highways, rural communities, offshore locations, wilderness areas and other sparsely populated regions can be expensive to cover with traditional cellular infrastructure.

Satellite changes that equation.

It doesn't necessarily need to replace a terrestrial network. It can provide another connectivity layer in places where building towers and other infrastructure doesn't make economic sense.

Starlink Is Changing the Competitive Landscape

SpaceX is pushing Starlink beyond traditional satellite broadband through its Direct to Cell technology.

That matters to wireless carriers because satellite connectivity is beginning to overlap with services historically provided through terrestrial mobile networks.

As those capabilities improve, the distinction between a satellite company and a wireless company becomes less obvious.

Satellite Doesn't Have to Replace Cellular to Matter

It's easy to frame new technologies as replacement stories.

Satellite versus cellular. Wireless versus fiber. Fiber versus cable.

But connectivity increasingly doesn't work that way.

Satellite can become extremely valuable without replacing terrestrial wireless. It simply needs to solve problems the existing network struggles to solve efficiently.

That makes satellite potentially complementary and competitive at the same time.

Disasters Highlight the Value of Multiple Networks

Coverage isn't only a rural issue.

Natural disasters and other emergencies can damage terrestrial infrastructure or interrupt traditional connectivity. A satellite layer provides another potential path when towers, fiber connections or other infrastructure are unavailable.

The larger the role connectivity plays in everyday life, the more valuable network resilience becomes.

Fiber, Wireless and Satellite Solve Different Problems

Each technology has strengths.

Fiber provides capacity.

Fiber networks can move enormous amounts of data efficiently and form a critical part of the infrastructure connecting homes, businesses, wireless networks, data centers and other systems.

Terrestrial wireless provides mobility.

Cellular networks allow customers and devices to stay connected while moving across large geographic areas.

Satellite provides reach.

Satellite networks can extend connectivity beyond locations that terrestrial infrastructure can economically cover.

The future may not require choosing one.

It may depend on combining all three.

The Customer May Eventually Stop Caring Which Network Is Working

One of the most interesting possibilities is a future where the underlying network becomes increasingly invisible to the customer.

A device could primarily use terrestrial wireless, rely on fiber somewhere deeper in the network and switch to satellite when terrestrial coverage disappears.

The customer doesn't necessarily need to understand that architecture.

They simply need the connection to work.

Dealers Can Ask a Better Question

For Authorized Dealers, convergence creates an opportunity to rethink the customer conversation.

“Who's your wireless provider?” is useful, but it only tells you part of the story.

A potentially more valuable question is:

“Where does your connectivity stop working?”

That question can uncover remote locations, traveling employees, coverage gaps, backup requirements and other problems that aren't obvious when the conversation starts with a specific product.

 

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For roughly 150 years, one piece of technology quietly connected American homes and businesses: the telephone line.

What began with Alexander Graham Bell's experiments in 1876 eventually became one of the country's most important infrastructure systems. Copper lines spread from individual buildings to cities and ultimately across the United States. Homes were built around them. Businesses depended on them. And eventually, we connected far more than telephones to those wires.

Fire alarms, elevator emergency phones, security systems, fax machines, gates, emergency phones and other specialized equipment all found their way onto the traditional telephone network.

Now the copper network is being retired.

But the equipment connected to it hasn't necessarily disappeared with it.

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What You’ll Learn in This Episode

It Started With a Voice Traveling Across a Room

In March 1876, Alexander Graham Bell successfully transmitted his famous message to Thomas Watson using an experimental telephone.

The technology was primitive, but the concept would transform communications. Within just a few years, telephone exchanges began connecting subscribers, creating the foundation of what would eventually become an enormous nationwide communications network.

The Phone Line Became Infrastructure

The telephone's real transformation came when it stopped being an individual invention and became a network.

Engineers developed switching systems, loading coils, amplification and other technologies that allowed calls to travel increasingly long distances. By 1915, Bell in New York and Watson in San Francisco participated in the ceremonial opening of transcontinental telephone service.

Copper wasn't simply carrying phone calls anymore. It had become infrastructure.

We Connected Much More Than Telephones

Once traditional telephone service became nearly universal, businesses found other uses for the network.

Elevator emergency phones, fire alarms, security systems, fax machines, building access systems, gates and industrial equipment could all rely on traditional POTS lines.

That's part of what makes today's transition complicated. A business owner may think they stopped depending on traditional phone lines years ago while equipment somewhere in the building is still quietly using one.

Why Copper Is Being Retired

Maintaining a massive aging copper network for a shrinking customer base becomes increasingly difficult to justify economically.

AT&T says fewer than 2% of eligible customers still use legacy copper voice technology and has outlined plans to exit copper across the majority of its wireline footprint by the end of 2029.

The FCC has also taken steps to streamline the retirement of aging copper infrastructure as telecommunications networks continue moving toward newer technologies.

The transition has been building for years. Now it is accelerating.

The Phone Line Is Dying. The Things Connected to It Aren't.

This is the central challenge of POTS retirement.

A business may no longer need an old-fashioned landline for everyday voice calls. But an elevator still needs a way to make an emergency call. A fire alarm still needs to communicate. A security system still needs connectivity.

Removing the copper doesn't automatically remove the need the copper was serving.

POTS Replacement Is More Than Regular VoIP

It can be tempting to think every traditional phone line can simply be replaced with ordinary internet-based phone service.

Specialized equipment can make the transition more complicated.

Life-safety systems, elevator phones, alarms and other devices may have specific connectivity, reliability, power and regulatory considerations. Businesses need to identify what equipment is actually using their existing lines before deciding how those connections should be replaced.

Ooma AirDial Keeps Legacy Equipment Connected

Ooma AirDial is designed as a POTS replacement solution for equipment that still depends on traditional analog telephone connectivity.

Its architecture can use LTE and wired broadband pathways and includes integrated battery backup. That allows existing equipment to continue operating without requiring the traditional copper line that originally connected it.

That's an important distinction. Modernizing the network doesn't always require replacing every piece of equipment attached to the old one.

Sometimes the bridge between old and new infrastructure is the opportunity.

StarDial Takes the Phone Line Somewhere New

Ooma's StarDial provides another interesting example of how the traditional phone experience can survive after the traditional phone network disappears.

Designed for Starlink customers in rural, remote and off-grid locations, StarDial provides conventional home-phone functionality over a Starlink internet connection.

The copper line isn't part of the equation anymore.

The need for voice communication still is.

The Same Need Can Outlive Multiple Technologies

The history of telecommunications is full of technologies replacing one another while the underlying customer need remains.

Copper replaced earlier limitations. Cellular networks made communication mobile. Fiber dramatically increased capacity. Satellite broadband is expanding connectivity into places terrestrial networks may struggle to reach.

The technology changes.

The customer's underlying problem often doesn't.

POTS Retirement Creates a Customer Conversation

For Authorized Dealers, the copper transition creates an opportunity to ask questions customers may not know they need to answer.

What is still connected to your traditional phone lines?

Do you have elevator phones? Fire alarms? Security systems? Fax machines? Gates or other building equipment?

And most importantly: what happens to those systems when the copper line disappears?

Identifying those dependencies before retirement happens can turn a technical infrastructure transition into a valuable customer conversation.

 

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Earlier this year, Lumen completed the $5.75 billion sale of its consumer fiber-to-the-home business across 11 states to AT&T. Looking at that transaction alone, it would be easy to assume Lumen was pulling back from fiber.

The bigger picture tells a very different story.

Lumen says it had deployed roughly 17 million intercity fiber miles by the end of 2025. The company is targeting 47 million by the end of 2028 and approximately 58 million by 2031. At the same time, Lumen is investing in Network-as-a-Service, cloud networking, automation, and software designed to make that physical infrastructure more flexible.

A major reason behind that strategy is artificial intelligence. AI infrastructure doesn't stop at GPUs and data centers. Massive amounts of information have to move between clouds, data centers, AI workloads, offices, and edge environments. That creates a different networking challenge, and Lumen is betting that the network itself needs to become more programmable to handle it.

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What You’ll Learn in This Episode

Lumen Didn't Get Out of Fiber

Selling its consumer fiber-to-the-home assets to AT&T represented a significant change in Lumen's business, but it did not mean abandoning fiber infrastructure.

Lumen retained its national, regional, state, and metro backbone infrastructure. Its strategy is increasingly centered on enterprise connectivity and the infrastructure required to move enormous amounts of data between businesses, data centers, cloud environments, and AI workloads.

AI Needs More Than Compute

Much of the AI infrastructure conversation focuses on GPUs, computing capacity, electricity, and data centers.

But those systems also need to communicate with one another. Training, inference, cloud applications, enterprise systems, and distributed computing environments can generate enormous amounts of network traffic.

That makes connectivity another critical piece of AI infrastructure.

Enterprise Bandwidth Requirements Are Growing

Research from IDC cited by Lumen found that 37% of surveyed enterprises experienced bandwidth requirements increasing by more than 50% year over year.

Another 29% reported difficulty aligning their networks with AI workloads.

Those figures illustrate the challenge. Businesses aren't simply asking for faster internet connections. They're dealing with increasingly complex environments where traffic needs can change rapidly depending on applications, workloads, and where computing resources are located.

Lumen Is Dramatically Expanding Its Intercity Fiber Network

Lumen says it had approximately 17 million intercity fiber miles deployed at the end of 2025.

Its target is 47 million by the end of 2028 and approximately 58 million by 2031.

That expansion reflects a simple reality about digital infrastructure: software can make networks more intelligent, but enormous amounts of physical fiber are still required to move data between major computing environments.

Enterprise Traffic Is Becoming More Complex

A traditional business network might connect an office to the internet, several branches back to headquarters, and the organization to a data center.

Today's enterprise environment can involve AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, private data centers, SaaS platforms, remote offices, edge computing, and AI infrastructure simultaneously.

Data increasingly needs to move between those environments rather than simply traveling from an office to one centralized destination and back.

Network-as-a-Service Changes How Connectivity Is Purchased

Traditional enterprise connectivity can require ordering circuits, provisioning services, configuring equipment, and waiting for changes to be implemented.

Network-as-a-Service introduces a more flexible model.

Instead of treating network capacity as something relatively static, businesses can increasingly provision and manage connectivity through digital interfaces. Lumen reported surpassing 3,000 Network-as-a-Service customers during the second quarter of 2026, showing growing interest in this model.

Alkira Adds a Software Layer to Lumen's Network Strategy

Lumen's acquisition of cloud-networking company Alkira helps explain another piece of its strategy.

Alkira provides software for connecting cloud environments, data centers, sites, partners, and other infrastructure. Combined with Lumen's physical network, that creates the possibility of managing complex connectivity through a software control layer.

The fiber still carries the data. Software increasingly determines how that connectivity is configured and used.

Intelligent Internet Brings Cloud Economics to Connectivity

Lumen's Intelligent Internet offering pushes this idea further by allowing enterprise customers to scale bandwidth as their requirements change.

The New York Yankees provide an interesting example. Yankee Stadium requires significantly more network capacity around games and events than it does when the facility is closed.

Instead of permanently maintaining capacity for peak demand, a programmable network can potentially increase capacity when it's needed and reduce it afterward.

That's similar to what cloud computing did for compute resources: use more when you need more and scale back when you don't.

APIs Could Become Part of the Network

One of the biggest changes may be how businesses interact with connectivity itself.

APIs can allow applications and software platforms to request network resources without someone manually initiating every change. As networking becomes more programmable, connectivity can potentially respond to business and application requirements dynamically.

That moves the network closer to the operating model businesses already expect from cloud infrastructure.

Physical Infrastructure Isn't Going Away

Programmable networking doesn't eliminate the need for fiber.

It arguably makes physical infrastructure even more important.

AI workloads can generate tremendous amounts of data, and software cannot move that information without the underlying network capacity. The emerging model combines massive physical infrastructure with software capable of controlling it more dynamically.