Lumen, the third largest ILEC, was the latest provider to find itself in the hot seat to address the presence of lead-sheathed copper cables in its legacy network.
The lead copper cable issue came to light after an investigative series published by the Wall Street Journal revealed the presence of 2,000 lead cables across the country. According to the report, several abandoned lines run through or under rivers, streams, and lakes that serve as drinking water sources for communities. What’s more, the report found the presence of these cables in local neighborhoods, playgrounds, and greenways where children may be exposed to them.
Fellow telcos AT&T and Verizon emphasized that the lead cables are working to determine the number of lead cables in their networks with internal and outside experts. These telcos said that they don’t believe the cables pose any health risks to their workforce or people in the communities they serve.
In Lumen’s case, the company told investors during its second-quarter earnings call that only a tiny portion of this network contained lead, most of which is conduit based and subterranean.
“We began phasing out lead sheet cables from our network infrastructure during the 1950s,” said Chris Stansbury, CFO of Lumen. “And based on our initial analysis, we currently estimate that less than 5% of our approximately 700,000-mile copper network contained lead, of which we believe the majority is buried and conduit-based infrastructure.”
He added, “We don't think this is a major issue for us, and we'll continue to work on and monitor it.”
Managing health, safety
Like AT&T and Verizon, Lumen plans to comply with federal and state regulator rules as well as workforce unions and organizations like OSHA to maintain employee health and safety.
Lumen has continued to manage the small number of lead-covered cables in its network. It is also working with outside experts to prioritize its investigative efforts, including site testing and implementation of science-based analysis.
Stansbury said it constantly manages its “network to ensure the health and safety of our employees and the communities we serve.”
He added, “We're committed to working with independent experts, regulators, and our industry peers to maintain our positive track record of safety and compliance.”
Expert collaboration
Like AT&T and Verizon, Lumen works with various independent sources and regulators. It is also gathering other providers' perspectives on the copper lead issue.
“We will continue to, as we said, work with regulators and outside experts as this moves forward,” Stansbury said. “But again, we feel good about our network and that a lot of it is conduit based and subterranean.”
However, Stansbury noted it would take time to understand the impact of a remediation process. “It’s very early for [to understand remediation impacts],” he said. “We spent much time determining how much lead is in the system. And the good news is, it's quite small.”