As sure as night follows day, advances in technology never stop. That probably explains why such profound changes in our lives and society brought about by technology aren’t usually greeted as enormous milestones, but rather as a procession of small victories.

But the widespread adoption of fibre optic has reached a level of penetration that means we simply can’t ignore one important development coming down the track, at least from a symbolic point of view: the closure of the last copper cable telephone exchange in Spain and the disappearance of ADSL as the standard in Internet connectivity.

Farewell to the technology that connected a nation

Ever since Telefónica – Spain’s main provider of telephony services and connectivity – began decommissioning its copper exchanges back in 2016, the final phase of which will draw to a close in San Sebastián later this year, all telephone exchanges that use copper cable have slowly but surely been switched off. 8,526 sites in total.

With the culmination of this long goodbye, connectivity standards have gradually been updated to fibre optic, but it also spells the last breaths of a technology that modernised the whole of the country and made widespread communications possible, first by telephone and then over the Internet with the help of ADSL.

As Eduardo Córdoba, an employee at the Basque exchange in San Marcial – the last one to close in 2024 –, puts it, the copper cables, which once upon a time had to be connected manually by switchboard operators, had enormous limitations, especially at times of peak demand: “New Year’s Eve was a nightmare. Once the bells had chimed, everyone would pick up the phone. You’d have 48 lines available for 500 callers, it was like an explosion”.

What will happen to any fibre optic predecessors that still work?

It may not be a statistically significant figure, but there are still around 1.85 million homes in Spain that rely on copper cables and ADSL to access the Internet, with their connections routed via those few exchanges still operating. Although the country’s biggest service provider promises 100% fibre optic coverage by 2025, approximately 10% of users, who still use ADSL, will have to piggyback on the mobile network until their fibre connections come online.

Three years behind schedule

The San Sebastián – San Marcial exchange, the last scheduled to close this year, is facing its final days three years later than Movistar’s initial plans for its decommissioning in 2021. The reason for the delay was that this particular facility covers the city centre, which also houses the old town. Local byelaws ban overhead wires in the historic zone, so the efforts of the City Council and the operator have had to be closely coordinated to find a solution.

The former is responsible for digging up the roads and pavements for fibre optic cables, while the latter is in charge of adapting buildings in the area and providing the necessary equipment to make the transition from one technology to the next more viable. In theory, by the time San Marcial shuts down for good on 24 May this year, the works will have been completed and Internet connectivity via fibre will be possible. If not, a mish-mash of different networks will have to be used until a full transition can take place.