San Mateo County officials voted to oppose AT&T’s bid to eliminate copper landline service through large swaths of California due to concerns over inadequate alternatives and safety concerns for residents throughout the county.
AT&T submitted an application to the California Public Utilities Commission last year, requesting permission to remove its twisted pair, or copper landline, service altogether, as a dwindling customer base no longer covers the cost to maintain the technology, and customers mostly opt for fiber or wireless-based services instead. The move has drawn scrutiny from numerous elected leaders and residents, particularly those who live in areas that often experience power outages and use the landlines to contact emergency services when internet or cell service is unavailable.
Supervisor Ray Mueller, who represents much of the county’s coastal and rural communities, said that he traveled to Indio to provide public comment to the California Public Utilities Commission on this issue and was made aware that the item will be heard before a judge in the CPUC who will hold an evidentiary hearing and then provide a recommendation to the CPUC.
“This resolution is very important, first off, to go ahead and provide comments officially from the board of the county emergency’s team staff taking position on it,” Mueller said. “I think what’s really important is that it gives the ability to ... the county attorney’s office to go ahead and look at how we intervene in that evidentiary hearing.”
Currently, AT&T must operate the landline network under what’s known as a carrier of last resort obligation, which requires at least one telephone company to provide landline telephone service to residents in a particular location and, because of its historically monopolistic status, the firm has been the default provider for years. The company stated in its letter to the commission that the market is now rife with competition, and the mandate to upkeep a costly system places an unfair burden on the firm.
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One major area of concern raised was that there is not a written process that explains how AT&T will reach the determination whether it believes a person has alternative methods to communicate other than the AT&T copper wire landline.
At a previous board meeting, supervisors met with Tedi Vriheas, AT&T California vice president of External Affairs, who answered questions about the item in an effort to curb any need for further requests of information and documents. She said that there are specifics that will be addressed throughout the duration of the project.
“That is a process that will be worked on through this CPUC application process,” Vriheas said at the previous meeting. “It is a multiyear process, and we are just at the beginning stages.”
Mueller has raised concerns over the impact for residents if CPUC grants AT&T’s requests at previous board meetings. He presented the motion to adopt the resolution to oppose AT&T’s bid and received unanimous support to do so with zero questions or comments.
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