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• Rural Counties Government Group Moves to Block AT&T’s Attempt to Bail on Providing Phone Service in the Boonies

As you read last week, AT&T is — once again — attempting to bail out of its longstanding obligation to run copper-wire landlines out to anyone who wants them, no matter how far off the beaten track they happen to live. 

In the past, the company has argued that the state’s “Carrier of Last Resort” requirements mean that it must “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.”

Meanwhile, the Rural County Representatives of California, among other like-minded organizations, are vehemently opposed to this. “Carrier of Last Resort obligations have helped guarantee access to essential communications services for decades,” the organization’s chairman writes. “Any effort to eliminate those protections must be carefully scrutinized to ensure rural residents are not left with less reliable service and fewer consumer protections.”

What do you think? Is it stupid to string copper wire all over the boonies in this day and age, or is it still absolutely essential?