Regarding The Wall Street Journal articles asserting that major telecoms like AT&T and Verizon left lead-covered pipes in water, the soil and on poles that are now leaking, New Street Research Policy Advisor Blair Levin predicts there will be government action.
He says to watch for calls from Congress and federal agencies such as the EPA, OSHA and the FCC to investigate. In a client note, he writes it’s not clear what the facts are, as the companies “have disputed the article’s core findings about the risks of lead cables.”
Because of the amount of time that has passed and the ownership changes among telecoms since the breakup of Ma Bell, Levin writes “there are all kinds of tricky issues that will have to be addressed before anyone should have a high level of conviction in what the outcome will likely be.”
“Still, the WSJ article raises the prospects that the telephone companies may face significant financial exposure down the road that the market has not anticipated,” writes the policy expert. He also notes it’s ironic this comes out as the government is about to distribute tens of billions of dollars to build out newer fiber networks.
“The government may decide it needs to collect large sums from the telcos to remediate the harm done in building the copper networks we needed in the 19th and 20th Century,” he writes and asserts that “one could see some of the infrastructure money funneled over to fix the lead problem,” says Levin.
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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