State urges FCC to move slowly
AT&T said it has received relief from carrier-of-last-resort obligations in 20 of the 21 states in its wireline service area. Carrier of last resort rules require phone companies to provide landline telephone service to any potential customer in their service area.
The CPUC rejected AT&T’s request to eliminate its California landline obligations in 2024. At the time, the agency urged AT&T to upgrade copper lines to fiber rather than shutting down older parts of its network.
In addition to its FCC petition, AT&T filed a lawsuit against California last month seeking an order that would exempt it from California’s carrier of last resort rules. AT&T alleged in its lawsuit, “California is requiring AT&T to spend $1 billion each year to maintain a century-old telephone network that almost no one uses.”
Lawsuits could take years, but the FCC may be willing to act more quickly on AT&T’s requests. Under Chairman Brandon Carr, the FCC issued an order making it easier for carriers to shut down copper networks and subject them to waivers if state regulations conflict with the FCC’s shutdown authority and authorization.
California regulators urged the FCC to proceed with caution. California said, if the agency doesn’t reject AT&T’s applications outright, it should at least remove them from the streamlined process, which could result in faster approvals. California could eventually sue the FCC if the agency tries to enforce the state’s rules.
“California opposes the applications submitted and respectfully asks the Commission to deny these applications,” the state said. “In the alternative, we ask the Wireline Competition Bureau to remove these applications from the streamlined process and ask the Commission to direct AT&T to address the concerns we have raised here.”
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