Digging should not be required in most cases. It would require replacing gear in most of the telco central offices. That probably sounds simple, but it is not.

Digging should not be required in most cases. It would require replacing gear in most of the telco central offices. That probably sounds simple, but it is not. Much of this gear is ancient, most of the people that intimately understand it are no longer with us and most of the companies that made it no longer exist. The new equipment would have to be backwards compatible and run side-by-side with the old equipment for a couple decades. Many of the CO's are at physical capacity. Even if the new gear is a fraction of the size of old gear, there will be logistical issues in many places. That alone is a significant undertaking. The coordination required between telcos within countries and between countries would be significant.