*The following story by Broadband Breakfast Reporter Jake Neenan was originally published here.
The head of the Federal Communications Commission has prepared an order that would preempt California’s copper retirement rules, the agency said Thursday.
AT&T asked for the move in May, following a March FCC order that invited companies to ask the agency to set aside state regulations that hindered their copper retirement efforts. The request has been supported by the wireless industry and opposed by state regulators and consumer advocates.
The FCC has already granted AT&T’s request to turn off copper telephone service at more than 184,000 locations in California. The California Public Utilities Commission has more stringent rules about what qualifies as an adequate replacement service — FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has been happy to accept reported wireless coverage — which has prevented the company from acting on the FCC approval.
ISPs are eager to decommission their old copper networks, which are costly to maintain and no longer provide competitive broadband speeds. The FCC and state agencies regulate the process to avoid rural areas being stranded without essential 911 services.
In a release, the FCC said its proposed order would preempt California regulations that prevented companies from moving forward with discontinuances approved by the FCC.
“This ensures that state obligations cannot be used in a manner that prevents a provider from effectuating a discontinuance that the Commission has approved,” the agency said.
Other states have been more receptive to ISP discontinuance efforts, and the FCC has been looking to make the process easier, which Carr had said will free up cash for network investments. AT&Thad said it spent $6 billion annually maintaining its copper, which it’s in the process of retiring nationwide.
The CPUC did not respond to requests for comment on whether it would challenge an FCC preemption order in court. AT&T has already sued the CPUC in federal court, arguing its rules are already preempted under the language of the March FCC order.
An AT&T spokesperson said the company was happy to see the preemption order circulated.
“California deserves fast, reliable, future-ready technology – and with the right policies in place, we’re delivering it and transitioning away from copper. No customer will be left without access to voice or 911 service, and we’re committed to working with our customers every step of the way during this transition,” the spokesperson said in an email. “We look forward to the FCC’s decision.”
In a bid to show consumers wouldn’t be left hanging, the carrier said in May that it would invest $19 billion in fiber expansion in California by 2030, which it said would reach an extra 4 million homes.
On AT&T’s earnings call last week, CEO John Stankey said the company had no remaining customers at 100 of its 4,600 copper wire centers. At 85 percent of its wire centers, including some in California, AT&T has grandfathered services and stopped offering them to new customers.
The company was on track to stop service at 50 percent of its wire centers outside of California, and reach almost all of them by the end of 2029, Stankey said.
AT&T has FCC approval to start turning off copper services in another batch of 18 states starting Nov. 15. The company had two other retirement requests automatically approved by the FCC earlier this month.
Other companies have also been making a push to retire copper. Some of Verizon’s efforts have hit a snag, however. After pushback from state regulators who wanted more granular wireless coverage data, the FCC said it needed more time than usual to review a Verizon application to turn off copper service in nine states.
AT&T lawsuit against CPUC
California is asking judges to dismiss AT&T’s lawsuit against the state. AT&T sued in May, arguing even without an explicit preemption order like the one now being circulated, California’s rules were still blocked by the March FCC order.
The CPUC argued in a Thursday filing that its rules don’t block copper retirement at all. They require a level of minimum reliable service, but the agency doesn’t care if companies provide that using something other than copper.
“AT&T does not wish to merely replace the service it offers via copper wire with new technology,” the agency wrote. “Rather, what AT&T really wants is to stop providing basic service — the minimum level of telephone service to which Californians are entitled — altogether.”
Read ILSR’s ongoing coverage of this issue, including AT&T vs. California: The Life-and-Death Battle Over Landline Service and how California Regulators Accuse AT&T of Misleading the Public on Wireless Coverage.
Inline image of AT&T building courtesy of Pexels.com
