Take Our Poll: Retrofitting legacy telco COs as data centers

As traditional telcos like AT&T and Verizon look to shut down copper-based voice services, they are revamping existing Central Offices (COs) into data centers.

Verizon noted in its second-quarter earnings call that it is reworking its COs to support AI inference. Verizon, which expanded its network reach after completing its acquisition of Frontier, is retrofitting COs that once housed bulky Class 5 voice switches and electric equipment into remote data center networking facilities. More proof of its desire came earlier this year when Verizon secured $1 billion with Google to connect data centers with its dark fiber assets.

Dan Schulman, Verizon’s CEO, told investors during its second-quarter earnings call that it is "in the early stages of retrofitting many of our central offices into data centers for inference edge computing with multiple conversations underway with partners who are eager to utilize these power-ready and permitted locations.”

But this is not just a Tier 1 phenomenon. Regional providers such as Ziply Fiber, which previously purchased the former Frontier’s northwest assets, are retrofitting what were once GTE voice service COs into data centers. The service provider is also continuing to expand its fiber network, selling a mix of lit fiber services via its 400G Northern link route.

We want your opinion on this emerging concept. Please take a moment to respond to our new poll below.