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  "description": "Verizon and New York are also at odds on state jurisdiction over copper retirement.",
  "path": "/fcc-seeking-comment-on-at-ts-california-preemption-request/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-26T21:59:59.000Z",
  "site": "https://broadbandbreakfast.com",
  "tags": [
    "looking to discontinue",
    "urged the FCC",
    "a March order",
    "case-by-case",
    "in a filing",
    "a May 20 filing",
    "a comment period",
    "signed on"
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  "textContent": "WASHINGTON, May 26, 2026 – Verizon and New York State are at odds on whether federal regulators have jurisdiction over the carrier’s request to retire copper service in the state.\n\nAt the same time, the Federal Communications Commission said Friday it was seeking comment on AT&T’s request that the agency preempt California’s carrier of last resort law, making it much easier for the company to turn off its vast legacy network in the state.\n\nIn Verizon’s case, the company is looking to discontinue legacy copper services in eight states and Washington, D.C., which altogether include just 86 subscribers. The company said between two and 18 subscribers in each state would be affected.\n\nThe New York State Public Service Commission urged the FCC not to fast track Verizon’s request, arguing that some customers, like first responders or healthcare clinics, might need more time to transition to fiber or wireless services.\n\nBut the PSC also said it wasn’t clear the FCC had jurisdiction over the issue at all. The state agency said it was “plausible” that some services at issue were “bona-fide intrastate services,” those offered within a state rather than the interstate services the FCC regulates.\n\nThe PSC said the record wasn’t complete enough to say for certain whether the services being discontinued were within the FCC’s jurisdiction or not. The FCC said in a March order that state rules that conflicted with its interstate copper retirement policy would be preempted, and that it would determine on a case-by-case basis whether services were ultimately interstate or intrastate.\n\nThe order’s finding that local telephone service could be “jurisdictionally mixed” and thus an FCC issue “represented a major change from previous practice and has the putative effect of subjecting some local legacy service to federal authority,” the PSC wrote.\n\nVerizon said in a filing posted Tuesday that the state agency’s characterization was inaccurate with respect to the voice and data services it was looking to turn off. The carrier wrote that the FCC had approved previous requests to discontinue the services at issue.\n\n“All of the affected services offer the ability to engage in interstate communications, whether by voice calls or data services,” the company wrote. “Verizon requires Commission approval to discontinue offering these services because they are, at a minimum, jurisdictionally mixed.”\n\n###  _AT &T petition_\n\nThe FCC’s March order said state laws on copper retirement could be preempted if they conflicted with the FCC’s policies. FCC Chairman **Brendan Carr** has sought to make it easier for ISPs to retire the legacy infrastructure, which is costly to maintain and no longer provides competitive broadband speeds.\n\nThe order said carriers could ask the agency to preempt a state rule if it got in the way of the copper retirement the FCC was trying to foster.\n\n“In this filing, AT&T accepts the Commission’s invitation,” the company wrote in a May 20 filing asking the agency to nix California’s carrier of last resort laws.\n\nThe state has restrictive copper retirement rules, an effort to ensure rural areas aren’t without essential services. AT&T has been aggressive in its copper retirement plans, but had largely excluded California from the equation.\n\nNow, the company is asking the FCC to preempt the state’s rules so it can discontinue legacy service to nearly 200,000 subscribers in the state.\n\nJust two days after the carrier’s filing was posted, the FCC established a comment period Friday on whether it could preempt California’s law. Comments are due June 22, with replies due July 7.\n\nIn addition to the FCC petition, the company is suing California in federal court over a past refusal to allow AT&T to retire its copper network.\n\nAT&T has said it spends $6 billion annually to maintain aging copper gear, and $1 billion in California alone. It also consistently reports outages in the state that it blames on people cutting up its copper to sell for scrap.\n\nTo sweeten the deal, AT&T said last week it would invest $19 billion in fiber expansion in the state by 2030, which it said would reach an extra 4 million homes. California’s utility regulator has an open proceeding in which it’s considering altering its carrier of last resort rules, and AT&T reached a partial deal with the state’s consumer advocacy office in which ISPs could turn down copper in areas where they deploy a certain amount of fiber.\n\nThe FCC’s lone democratic commissioner, **Anna Gomez,** signed on to the order, saying her office requested edits that would create a docket for rural consumers to complain if companies turned off copper infrastructure, still necessary for 911 service in some places, too quickly or without proper notice.\n\nConsumer advocacy group Public Knowledge, usually aligned with Gomez, said it didn’t think her edits went far enough and that the adopted order still “allows phone companies to cut corners in the name of upgrading our nation.”\n\nAT&T COO **Jeff McElfresh** said at a March Morgan Stanley conference the carrier had approval to stop selling new service at 85 percent of its more than 5,000 wirecenters, and could start fully shutting down 30 percent. The carrier is aiming to shut down most of its copper by the end of 2029.",
  "title": "FCC Seeking Comment on AT&T’s California Preemption Request",
  "updatedAt": "2026-06-10T21:47:55.962Z"
}