David Shepherdson
WASHINGTON, May 20 (Reuters) – AT&T filed a lawsuit against California officials on Wednesday, seeking a court order declaring that it does not have to continue providing traditional copper phone service to new customers as the company vows to spend $19 billion to buy modern telecommunications services.
AT&T said California requires U.S. wireless carriers to spend $1 billion a year to maintain a century-old but rarely used phone network that currently serves only 3% of AT&T’s California homes.
AT&T’s lawsuit takes the California Public Utilities Commission and the state attorney general to court. The CPUC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
AT&T said it has committed to investing $19 billion in California and is committed to connecting more than 4 million California homes and businesses by 2030, and that IP-based networks will be more reliable and efficient.
AT&T also asked the Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday to allow it to discontinue traditional phone service in parts of California where it offers faster, more reliable service. It also filed a petition with the FCC stating that California’s regulations effectively requiring AT&T to provide power, repair and sell traditional phone service – even after the FCC had authorized a phase-out of the service – were preempted by federal standards.
AT&T added that the transition from copper is expected to save 300 million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually by 2030, equivalent to eliminating the emissions of 17 million gallons of gasoline. The company added that California has suffered about 2,000 outages this year due to copper theft, and replacement parts have been difficult to find.
The federal government and nearly all states where AT&T historically provided copper service “have now removed outdated regulatory hurdles,” allowing AT&T to begin shutting down its legacy network and increasing investments in modern communications technology, the company said in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Southern California.
(Reporting by David Shepherdson; Editing by Franklin Paul)
