If the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) approves a proposal next month by AT&T to end landline service statewide, people living in rural areas where there are no other viable options will be able to keep their landlines.
That was the message Tuesday to the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors from AT&T’s External Affairs Vice President for California Tedi Vriheas.
“We’re not going to be doing anything to anyone’s landline in the regions that have no alternatives,” she said.
Vriheas has also told the board that being released from its Carrier of Last Resort (COLR) obligations to provide landline service to anyone who wants it would not mean an immediate end to that service. Rather, it would be a gradual reduction to the outmoded communication system.
The supervisors took no action during the discussion-only presentation.
The presentation by the telecommunications company came after a Jan. 22 letter from AT&T informing customers the utility plans to ask the PUC to let it scale back its landline service to most of the state.
The reason for the request, Vriheas said, is that new technology has outpaced traditional copper landlines to the point where it is no longer financially feasible to continue the service. Moreover, seven out of 10 adults now opt for cell phones over landlines, she said.
“Our copper network is going away someday,” she said. “It’s absolutely going away.”
And in the meantime, Vriheas said, the company wants to spend money on newer, more efficient technologies.
“For every dollar we put in a copper network, we are not investing in advanced technologies of the future,” she said.
But Vriheas’ assurances that AT&T would not leave customers who want to keep their landlines without dependable service was cold comfort for dozens of people who spoke at the meeting, many of whom live in rural, mountainous regions.
Many of these people said that their landline was their only means of communication during recent natural disasters.
“A landline is essential for public safety in Bonny Doon,” said Kathy Astromoff, who added that her landline helped keep neighbors in touch during the CZU fires.
“It’s helpful when the power goes out,” Astromoff said. “Relieving AT&T of their Carrier of Last Resort obligations would create another hole in the infrastructure safety net that myself in Bonny Doon and my family and my neighbors rely upon.”
Vriheas also told the supervisors that the declining number of landline customers—currently 490,000 statewide compared to 15 million in years past—means that the cost of adding and maintaining the lines must be spread out over a smaller number of customers.
Better technology, she said, is available.
“I know that the communities that are relying on landlines deserve better,” she said. “And I know that you know that. And I know that the state of California knows that, because they are dedicating over $8 billion dollars to help bridge the digital divide.
Supervisor Zach Friend expressed frustration over AT&T’s seemingly prioritizing profit over its customers.
“What customers are hearing is that it’s a service that does not make us any money anymore, and therefore we’re not going to invest in it and therefore their needs aren’t as important as the higher grossing needs,” he said.
Friend also criticized the company for making the move before presenting something with which to replace it.
“To me, this application should come forward when there is a viable alternative, not before,” he said.
Supervisor Bruce McPherson, whose district includes the communities of the Santa Cruz Mountains, said that, with seven natural disasters in as many years, it’s essential that residents have a viable communications system that will last during those incidents.
“We can’t make our rural residents pay the price for this innovation when the alternatives to landlines have not yet been proven to be resilient during these major events that we have experienced,” he said. “There is really a lack of confidence that this will be done.”
