AT&T is moving forward with a plan to discontinue traditional landline service for nearly 200,000 households in California after a recent federal win, according to reports, but its battle with the state regarding the issue is far from over.
The company in May announced a $19 billion investment in California’s fiber and wireless networks by the end of 2030, adding that it was beginning the process of discontinuing copper-based services, such as traditional phone service, in parts of the state as early as June 1, 2027. Only 3 percent of the households that AT&T serves in California still use the service, according to the company.
“We’re taking a phased, year-long approach to upgrade customers in these areas where better, more reliable services are available,” the announcement said. “Transitioning from copper also allows further investment in more modern services.”
The Federal Communications Commission late last month approved a petition by AT&T to discontinue landline service, according to The Mercury News and Newsweek.
The company intends to end traditional landline service for over 180,000 households in the state, according to The Mercury News, but it has more applications pending before the FCC to overcome, as well as a federal court case related to the matter.
AT&T has been pushing to end landlines in California for years, an issue Patch covered in 2024, at which time the company argued the price of maintaining its traditional copper cable for landlines is costly, and providers are moving toward offering fiber optics and ethernet access, in addition to retiring older equipment, which includes copper wires.
The company has filed a lawsuit against the state’s public utilities commission and attorney general seeking to relieve AT&T of its carrier of last resort obligations, according to a July news release from the Rural County Representatives of California. The obligations require the company to provide landline service and the prospect of their absence has left some officials concerned.
“When disasters and power outages strike, losing reliable communications can isolate entire communities and delay emergency response when seconds matter most,” Ryan Campbell, Tuolumne County supervisor and California State Association of Counties Executive Committee member, said in the news release.
“California must preserve the longstanding obligation that ensures every community has access to dependable telephone service.”
Nevertheless, AT&T customers have begun receiving notices that their landline service will be discontinued, the Rural County Representatives said in a June news release, which added the notices “do not fully reflect AT&T’s ongoing obligation to provide basic telephone service to its California customers upon request.”
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