AT&T’s request to drop landline services threatens rural California: Sierra County
(FOX40.COM) — California’s rural communities are taking a stand against AT&T’s filing to the California Public Utilities Commission to drop their responsibilities as Carrier of Last Resort (COLR).
A COLR is a telecommunications service provider that stands ready to provide basic telephone service, commonly landline telephone service, to any customer requesting such service within a specified area. At least one telephone company in a specified area is legally required to provide access to telephone service to anyone in its service territory who requests it.
California Public Utilities Commission
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AT&T is the largest COLR in California and covers a large portion of the state including its extremely rugged and rural regions that rely on the landline services.
According to the CPUC, AT&T is filing the request as they no longer receive any federal high-cost support to provide universal services like COLR.
On Tuesday, the Sierra County Board of Supervisors filled a letter of opposition to AT&T’s request citing the danger the loss of a COLR would mean for their community.
Sierra County is located in Northern California, directly across the California-Nevada state line from Reno, Nevada.
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Many of the communities in Sierra County were built up around gold mining and some of its largest communities include Downieville, Sierra City and Sierraville.
In their letter to the CPUC, the board illustrated the dynamic topography of the county and how it creates an extremely difficult environment for guaranteed cell service on clear days and during significant weather events.
Sierra County elevations range from 2,200 to 8,900 feet, with heavy snow and winter conditions a common occurrence here. That winter weather brings with it power outages that kill non-copper-based phone systems. In the peak of our summer fire season, public safety power shutoffs (PSPS) occur when our local communities are at their biggest risk of wildfire, and then too, non-copper-based phone systems fail. As well, a number of western Sierra County fire agency dispatch services rely on copper-based phones in order to have consistent communication dispatch abilities.
Sierra County Board of Supervisors letter to CPUC
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The board also highlighted the county’s nearly year-round tourism population that comes to recreate in the county.
One of the most famous events in the county is the Downieville Downhill Race, which brings hundreds of mountain bikers and spectators from across the world to watch what is considered one of the sport’s greatest races.
The board said if a Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) or wildfire occurred during an event like the downhill races it would leave not only the 3,000 county residents without the ability to contact emergency services but also the thousands of visitors.
In addition, AT&T has made public telephones an endangered species and we can only identify two in western Sierra County. In the past they were a presence in every western Sierra County community, with at least four in our county seat of Downieville (and today there are none). Anyone traveling needs to try and find a U-verse based hot spot or try and find an open business during an emergency. During times of power outages, they are without any option of communication.
Sierra County Board of Supervisors letter to CPUC
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Many of Western Sierra County’s fire agencies also rely on landlines to maintain communications with dispatch, according to the county.
Sierra County’s letter is among multiple others sent to the CPUC as part of the Rural Counties Representatives of California’s (RCRC) campaign to have AT&T’s request denied.
RCRC is a coalition of 40 rural California counties that work to ensure policies aiding the state’s rural counties.
If the CPUC approved AT&T’s request over 500,000 customers would lose their landline service and access to affordable phone service.
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Those counties affected in the Sacramento region would be:
• Butte
• Alpine
•Amador
• Colusa
• El Dorado
• Nevada
• Placer
• Sacramento
• San Joaquin
• Sierra
• Solano
• Stanislaus
• Sutter
• Yolo
• Yuba
In order for the CPUC to approve AT&T’s request the phone company must show that another Eligible Telecommunications Carrier can provide support in the areas that AT&T is looking to surrender, according to the CPUC.
According to Sierra County, a Wyoming-based company has been provided as an option by AT&T.
The CPUC will be holding in-person and virtual public forums before they make their final decision on AT&T’s request.
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