The telecom industry is collectively coming off its worst two weeks in decades, following a bombshell The Wall Street Journal report that its companies have hundreds of aging lead-lined copper cables, allegedly leaking lead contamination into the water system in places like Lake Tahoe, Calif.
Also read: Does the Telecom Industry Have an Exxon Valdez-Scale Problem on Its Hands With Toxic Lead Cables?
Perhaps no telecom company was harder hit than AT&T, which saw its stock crater to a 29-year low on July 14 ... then drop another 7% earlier this week.
Analysts have struggled to get their heads around the potential scope of the (still alleged at this point) environmental problem, but some estimates peg AT&T spending as much as $4 billion to deal with it.
Happily for AT&T, its stock has ticked up about 9% since that nadir.
And in a federal court filing rendered Wednesday related to a lawsuit filed against the telecom by the California Sportfishing Alliance (hat tip to FierceTelecom for finding it first), AT&T estimated that any potential contamination would pertain to around 10% (200,000 miles) of the 2 million miles of copper cable it has laid down nationally.
The company said more than two-thirds of its lead-covered cables are “either buried or in conduit” with “a very small portion running underwater.”
Moreover, AT&T said it strongly disagrees with WSJ’s findings in the Lake Tahoe region, noting that the paper’s determination “differs dramatically from the expert testing commissioned by AT&T.”
The company said it has no immediate plans to remove its lead-sheathed cables from the Lake Tahoe area, even though it initially agreed to take them out in 2021.
AT&T wants further testing.
“Under the circumstances, AT&T submits the responsible course of action is to develop a further record rather than remove the Lake Tahoe cables and work cooperatively with regulators and other stakeholders on a risk assessment,” the company’s filing said.
