AT&T sues California in attempt to shut off old phone network - Ars Technica

Overview

AT&T sues California in attempt to shut off old phone network

AT&T asks a court and the FCC to block California phone requirements.

Details

AT&T sued California yesterday over the state’s refusal to let the carrier stop providing phone service to all potential customers in its wireline network territory. AT&T is also asking the Federal Communications Commission to declare that California cannot enforce its rules and to let AT&T stop providing service to about 199,000 phone customers.

“California requires AT&T to spend $1 billion each year to maintain a century-old telephone network that almost no one uses,” AT&T said in a lawsuit filed in US District Court for the Southern District of California. “The copper wires that once served every home now serve just three percent of households in AT&T’s California territory, with consumers fleeing every day to modern broadband services that are more affordable, reliable, and energy-efficient.”

In June 2024, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) rejected AT&T’s request to eliminate the Carrier of Last Resort (COLR) obligation that requires it to provide landline telephone service to any potential customer in its service territory. AT&T has said it’s received relief from COLR obligations in 20 of the 21 states in its wireline service territory, all except California.

“The federal government and virtually all States where AT&T historically offered POTS [Plain Old Telephone Service] have now eliminated outdated regulatory obstacles, allowing AT&T to begin powering down its POTS network and increasing its investments in modern communication technologies. California stands alone in resisting this progress,” AT&T’s lawsuit said.

AT&T complained that its “barely used copper network is an easy mark for criminals—California has already suffered about 2,000 outages from copper thefts this year—and drains the power grid of over 100 million kilowatt-hours each year.”

AT&T has argued for years that California is preventing it from replacing copper with more modern technology. But California officials say AT&T is allowed to upgrade the copper lines with better technology.

“The Commission does not have rules preventing AT&T from retiring copper facilities. Furthermore, the Commission does not have rules preventing AT&T from investing in fiber or other facilities/technologies to improve its network,” the CPUC said in its 2024 decision against AT&T. The CPUC said the state’s “COLR rules are technology-neutral and do not distinguish between voice services offered… and do not prevent AT&T from retiring copper facilities or from investing in fiber or other facilities/technologies to improve its network.”

AT&T doesn’t want to upgrade all copper customers to fiber. It has told investors it intends to build fiber home Internet in much of its wireline footprint, prioritizing the most densely populated and thus most profitable areas. But in about half of its wireline territory, AT&T has a “wireless first” plan in which copper phone lines would be replaced only by wireless technology.

The CPUC in 2024 noted that members of the public raised concerns about “the unreliability of voice alternatives such as mobile wireless or Vo IP.” The agency said that by dismissing AT&T’s request to withdraw as the Carrier of Last Resort, “the CPUC reaffirms its commitment to safeguard access to essential services and maintain regulatory oversight of the telecommunications industry.”

We contacted the CPUC and California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office about AT&T’s lawsuit today and will update this article if we receive comment.

AT&T’s lawsuit said it wants to replace copper lines with fiber and wireless offerings, and that both fiber and wireless are good enough to meet residents’ needs. Wireless options include the nationwide AT&T mobile service and AT&T Phone-Advanced, a Vo IP service that relies on the mobile network. AT&T said that “the FCC has repeatedly found [AT&T Phone-Advanced] to be an adequate replacement for POTS.”

Under Chairman Brendan Carr, the FCC has been inclined to grant the wishes of carriers seeking to ditch old networks. AT&T’s lawsuit cites a March 2026 order in which the FCC made it easier for carriers to discontinue copper networks and asserted that state rules are subject to preemption if they conflict with the FCC’s discontinuance authorizations and authority.

The FCC order spoke generally of preemption but did not make determinations about specific state rules. AT&T asked the court for “a declaration that any California law or regulation that interferes with AT&T’s ability to grandfather POTS, as authorized by the FCC in the NMO [Network Modernization Order], is unlawful,” and “injunctive relief to preclude California officials from applying those laws or regulations to prevent or slow AT&T from grandfathering POTS.”

AT&T’s lawsuit said that although the FCC “granted AT&T permission to stop signing up new customers” for POTS, California’s COLR “rules require AT&T to continue offering POTS even after the FCC has authorized the service to be phased out. Under basic preemption principles, those COLR rules cannot stand.”

AT&T yesterday also submitted petitions asking the FCC to intervene directly in California. One petition asks for permission to discontinue copper-based service to 184,000 residential customers and another asks for permission to discontinue copper service to 15,000 business customers.

Two other AT&T petitions asked the FCC for forbearance and preemption orders that would effectively block enforcement of California’s COLR rules and other phone mandates, such as a requirement to participate in the California Lifeline discount program. AT&T said it has about 40,000 Lifeline subscribers left in California, with that number having plummeted due, in part, to a 2016 FCC order that let AT&T stop offering Lifeline to new consumers in most counties.

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Key Takeaways

• AT&T sues California in attempt to shut off old phone network

• AT&T asks a court and the FCC to block California phone requirements

• AT&T sued California yesterday over the state’s refusal to let the carrier stop providing phone service to all potential customers in its wireline network territory

• “California requires AT&T to spend $1 billion each year to maintain a century-old telephone network that almost no one uses,” AT&T said in a lawsuit filed in US District Court for the Southern District of California

• In June 2024, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) rejected AT&T’s request to eliminate the Carrier of Last Resort (COLR) obligation that requires it to provide landline telephone service to any potential customer in its service territory