PREVIOUSLY: North Coast Officials Blast AT&T’s ‘Dangerous’ Proposal to Disconnect Landline Services in Communities Across California

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If you have landline telephone services through AT&T you’ll want to attend next week’s virtual meeting.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) will host a public forum on Tuesday, March 19, to discuss AT&T’s proposal to remove its designation as a Carrier of Last Resort (COLR), which requires the telecommunications giant to provide traditional, analog telephone service via copper wires to residential and business customers throughout its service territory. 

Blue shaded sections represent the territory AT&T seeks to withdraw from as a COLR. Screenshot.

If the application is approved, AT&T will no longer be required to provide basic landline services in certain areas. The proposal would affect a large swath of Humboldt County, including much of Arcata, Eureka, Fortuna, McKinleyville, Rio Dell, Trinidad, and smaller communities along Highway 101 and State Route 299. (You can look up your address here to see if you’ll be affected.)

Why would AT&T want to remove the COLR obligation? In short: it’s outdated and expensive.

“In effect, this obligation requires AT&T, but not its major competitors, to wastefully operate and maintain two duplicative networks: one, an antiquated, narrowband network with an ever-dwindling base of subscribers, and the other, a forward-looking, fiber and wireless broadband network,” according to the executive summary of the application. “This proposal … would reduce economic and environmental waste and propel greater investment and innovation while protecting the relatively few customers whose only current option for voice service is a legacy telephone line.”

The proposal has drawn criticism from local residents, North Coast lawmakers and service organizations like the Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC) who worry that the loss of landline service would hinder access to critical 9-1-1 services and emergency alerts, especially for rural residents. 

If you’d like to share your thoughts with the CPUC, you can submit an online comment here. You can also provide comments during one of the virtual forums at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Tuesday, March 19.

More information on the proposal can be found here.