Telefónica has completed the switch-off of its legacy copper network.

The carrier finalized the retirement of the copper network this week, shutting down the last 661 exchanges it had in operation yesterday (May 27).

It marks the end of a decade-long switch-off for the Spanish telco giant, which kicked off its copper network phase-out back in 2014.

This began in that same year when Telefónica closed its first two exchanges in Sant Cugat del Vallès, Barcelona, and Torrelodones, Madrid.

At its peak, the company had more than 8,500 copper exchanges.

The mobile operator has replaced the copper with fiber, which offers significantly faster speeds, consumes less energy, and requires less maintenance than copper networks. The carrier claims that fiber is 90 percent more energy efficient than legacy copper.

Telefónica had initially aimed to complete its copper switch-off in April 2025, and even brought forward its plans to retire its copper network by a year for last year instead, but missed its planned target.

“Telefónica has led the copper shutdown in Europe with the shutdown of the copper network in Spain. Thanks to this technological migration, our company’s customers can count on an ultra-broadband network that consistently offers better performance than the copper network,” the company stated.

Spanish publication Cinco Dias reports that fiber optic lines sold reached 16.6 million and represent 89.3 percent of the total number of fixed broadband lines in Spain.

Telefónica’s network reaches 31 million deployed real estate units.

Telefónica sources told Cinco Dias that closing 1,000 exchanges requires the dismantling of 65,000 tons of cable and the recycling of 7,140 tons of waste electrical and electronic equipment and other elements.

The telco sped up its plans to decommission its copper network after a ruling in 2021 by the CNMC (Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia), Spain’s competition regulator.

CNMC allowed Telefónica to shorten the notice period for the closure of these exchanges from five to two years.