At its meeting on Thursday, June 20, the California Public Utilities Commission voted to reject AT&T’s request to withdraw landline and other services from certain areas of California, including much of San Mateo County.
“This is a victory for some of the most vulnerable residents in our county whose telephones are their lifeline,” San Mateo County Supervisor Ray Mueller said in a press release.
AT&T filed a request in March 2023 to be relieved of its “carrier of last resort” obligation in certain areas of California. A carrier of last resort is required to offer basic services, most commonly landline services, within a specified area.
AT&T is the designated carrier of last resort in many areas of the state, including nearly all of San Mateo County. Its service area includes many of the most rural regions of California.
The telecommunications giant’s proposal argued that the obligation, which is a relic from a time before cellular service, would force it to maintain both an aging narrowband network as well as its modern wireless broadband and fiber network without the federal funding that it used to receive for providing services in rural areas.
The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted in March to oppose the move from AT&T. Supervisors cited the need for residents in rural areas as well as seniors and those with speech or hearing disabilities to have free access to 911 and telephone relay service.
The resolution states: “For many vulnerable residents living in rural and semi-rural areas of San Mateo County, the copper landline service provided by AT&T is the only reliable access to communications, particularly in emergency situations and during natural hazard events, such as storms, wildfires, and earthquakes.”
“There are residents both in the rural areas and urban areas of San Mateo County that rely on that COLR service,” Mueller said at the CPUC meeting in San Luis Obispo. “Specifically in power outages in urban areas, individuals with access and functional needs who have to be able to reach out for help during local outages, and in rural areas where we have tremendous connectivity issues on the coast during power outages sometimes lasting weeks.”
At the June 20 meeting, the CPUC ultimately voted unanimously to reject AT&T’s proposal, because there is no alternative service provider in many areas of the state.
In a press release, Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, D-Menlo Park, said, “the CPUC made the right decision to hold AT&T to its promise and obligation to provide phone service to our constituents in areas with unreliable cell service. If the only option to provide this COLR service is through copper landlines, then AT&T must provide and maintain those. These lines of communication are lifelines to residents in rural areas especially during public emergencies like fires, earthquakes, floods and landslides. Cost saving must never trump public safety.”
“I applaud the recent action by the CPUC to protect consumers who rely upon traditional telephone service,” said Assemblymember Diane Papan in an email to this news organization. “A carrier of last resort is just that — a last resort. Many residents have no reasonable option and rely upon landlines as a means to connect to the world. Removing the option of last resort would strand many without recourse. That is not a tolerable option.”
However, landlines in the rural areas of San Mateo County may not remain safe for long. Assembly Bill 2797, which is now in front of the state Assembly, would loosen carrier of last resort obligations for AT&T.
Under certain circumstances AT&T, as well as any other service provider operating as a carrier of last resort, would be able to end their obligations without the consent of the CPUC.
AB 2797 will be heard in front of the Committee on Energy, Utilities and Communications on July 2.
Mueller announced that he would be bringing a resolution to oppose AB 2797 to the Board of Supervisors at its Tuesday, June 25, meeting.
“On the eve of AT&T’s petition being denied at the CPUC, legislation to remove the CPUC’s regulatory authority has been brought forward in the state legislature, where AT&T has spent significant sums of money in campaign contributions over the last decade,” Mueller said in the press release. “It is my hope that our local state legislators will reject AB 2797, as our county’s most vulnerable residents’ health and safety depend on the protections afforded by the safeguards put in place by the CPUC to protect those who need COLR access.”
