Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
On July 15 and 16, 2026, the Federal Communications Commission will host a two day workshop in Washington, DC dedicated to one goal: finishing the transition from legacy voice networks to modern, all IP networks. The event is free, open to the public, and livestreamed at fcc.gov/live.
If you manage IT, telecom, or facilities for an organization that still has POTS lines in service, this workshop deserves a spot on your calendar. Not because anything will be decided in the room, but because of what it confirms. The FCC is no longer debating whether the copper era ends. It is convening the industry to work out the mechanics of how quickly it can be wrapped up.
What the workshop covers
The Wireline Competition Bureau published the full agenda on July 6, 2026. Over two days, panels of carriers, public interest groups, and technology providers will work through three areas:
- IP interconnection. How carriers exchange voice traffic once the circuit switched network is gone, and what the right regulatory framework looks like for an all IP world.
- Intercarrier compensation. Completing the long running shift of access charges to a bill and keep model, which removes one of the last revenue mechanisms tied to legacy voice infrastructure.
- Universal Service Fund reform. Updating the High Cost program and legacy support mechanisms that were designed around maintaining traditional networks, and pointing that funding at an all IP future instead.
The workshop builds on a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking the Commission adopted on February 19, 2026, titled Reforming Legacy Rules for an All IP Future; Accelerating Network Modernization (WC Docket Nos. 25-311 and 25-208, FCC 26-11). Announcing the workshop, Chairman Brendan Carr described the goal as replacing “slow, legacy networks built for a bygone era” with modern, competitive technologies.
The Panel Enterprises should Watch
Most of the agenda is carrier plumbing. One session is not. On the afternoon of July 15, the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau moderates a panel on public safety considerations in the IP transition. The panelists include the National Emergency Number Association, the National Association of State 911 Administrators, Verizon, Bandwidth, and Intrado.
That lineup tells you where the friction is. The systems most exposed by the end of legacy voice are not desk phones. They are the analog dependent devices that call for help: fire alarm panels, elevator phones, blue light emergency phones, and the 911 infrastructure behind them. Regulators know these systems are the hard part of the transition, which is exactly why they get a dedicated panel while ordinary voice service does not.
For enterprises, the takeaway is uncomfortable but useful. If your fire alarm communicators or elevator lines still ride on copper, you are operating the equipment category that the FCC itself treats as the transition’s biggest risk.
Why this Matters even if you Never Watch a Minute of It
It is tempting to file an FCC workshop under regulatory noise. Here is why this one is different. The economics of POTS have been propped up for decades by a regulatory scaffolding: intercarrier compensation rules, universal service subsidies, and interconnection obligations built around circuit switched networks. This workshop is about dismantling the remaining pieces of that scaffolding. Every reform on the agenda makes legacy voice less economically viable for carriers to operate.
Enterprises have already felt the early effects. POTS line rates have climbed steadily since the FCC deregulated pricing, and carriers have accelerated copper retirement filings since the Commission’s March 5, 2026 order streamlined the process. When the underlying cost recovery mechanisms disappear too, the remaining incentive to maintain copper goes with them.
In practical terms, the transition timeline is compressing from three directions at once: rising line costs, faster retirement approvals, and now the removal of the financial machinery that kept legacy networks running.
What to do Before and After July 15
Watch or skim it. The livestream is at fcc.gov/live and requires no registration. Day one afternoon (public safety and consumer protection panels) is the most relevant stretch for enterprise readers. If you cannot watch live, the FCC posts recordings.
Inventory your exposure. Most organizations underestimate how many POTS lines they still have because the lines are attached to buildings, not people. Fire panels, elevators, gates, alarms, faxes, and SCADA connections rarely show up in an IT asset list. A professional site survey identifies every analog dependency before a carrier retirement notice forces the issue.
Plan the migration on your schedule, not the carrier’s. Organizations that wait for a disconnection notice end up compressing a multi site migration into a compliance emergency. Organizations that move early get to sequence installs around their operations, validate life safety systems properly, and capture the cost savings sooner.
The Bottom Line
The FCC does not convene two day industry workshops to preserve the status quo. The July 15 and 16 sessions are the clearest signal yet that the federal government considers the legacy voice network a closing chapter, and that the remaining policy work is about speed, not direction.
MarketSpark provides managed POTS replacement for enterprises, with end to end deployment, integrated backup power, and 24/7 monitoring through Command Center. If you want to know exactly how exposed your locations are before the rules change again, request a free audit and we will map every analog line you have.