They probably had to replace aging infrastructure. Telcos aren't laying copper anymore. Verizon caught flak for neglecting aging copper networks and wanting to upgrade everything to fiber.
A drawback of fiber is that it generally doesn't work during power outages where as copper does.
The VDSL2 remote terminal that services my house cuts off the second utility power does. So don't count on copper working. Although when the utility power outage was due to a downed line between me and the remote terminal, the DSL didn't drop.
That’s wild, considering AT&T is now running fiber service everywhere. I’m surprised they wouldn’t use it for that, at this point they could provide service to Atlanta overnight.
A drawback of fiber is that it generally doesn't work during power outages where as copper does.