Overview
- AT&T filed a federal lawsuit and FCC petitions on May 20–21 asking a court to block California rules that it says force the company to keep selling traditional copper telephone service to new customers.
- The carrier asked the FCC for permission to discontinue copper-based service for about 184,000 residential and 15,000 business customers and for orders that would preempt California’s Carrier-of-Last-Resort rules.
- California’s Public Utilities Commission rejected AT&T’s 2024 request to drop its Carrier-of-Last-Resort duty and has not reversed that stance, leaving the dispute now to the federal court and the FCC to resolve.
- AT&T says the copper network serves roughly 3% of its California households, causes frequent outages from theft, costs about $1 billion a year to maintain, and that retiring it would free $19 billion in investment for fiber to reach more customers by 2030.
- If the court or FCC sides with AT&T, many customers could be moved to wireless or VoIP replacements, raising questions about reliability, Lifeline access, and service for people who still rely on traditional landlines while regulators weigh public-safety and equity concerns.