FCC Extends Public Input Period on AT&T’s Petitions to Shed California Landline Obligations

WASHINGTON, June 17, 2026 – Stakeholders will have more time to weigh in on AT&T’s petitions before the Federal Communications Commission seeking federal preemption to cease its landline operations in California.

The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau issued an order Tuesday granting in part separate motions from the California Public Utilities Commission requesting additional time to file comments on two petitions filed by AT&T on May 20.

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That day, AT&T filed a petition for preemption asking the FCC to override California’s carrier-of-last-resort laws, which require designated providers to offer basic telephone service to all customers within their service areas.

In a related petition for forbearance, AT&T asked the FCC to stop applying eligible telecommunications carrier obligations across its California incumbent service territory.

More than 300 individual comments were filed in response to the petitions ahead of the original Monday, June 22, deadline. Stakeholders that have weighed in so far have pushed back on AT&T’s claims that “almost no one uses” its landline service, arguing it is a critical lifeline in many regions of California with limited mobile reception.

Stakeholders will now have until July 7 to weigh in, after the CPUC requested the extension, citing a series of overlapping deadlines in federal court and multiple related FCC proceedings.

AT &T's applications to discontinue legacy voice service

In addition to the petitions, AT&T on May 20 filed applications seeking approval to discontinue residential and business plain old telecommunications service in California.

Those applications proceeded on a separate track at the FCC, with comments due Monday. More than 400 individual comments were filed, many objecting to the proposals.

The Utility Reform Network (TURN) and rural county representatives of California urged the FCC to reject AT&T’s applications in comments, arguing the company has not demonstrated that its proposed replacement services meet federal standards for adequate substitutes.

Data cited by TURN found about 35 percent of California homes utilize a landline phone in some capacity, with AT&T providing 75 percent of the state’s last-resort phone service, impacting at least 500,000 California residents.

AT &T makes case to FCC officials

AT&T officials have separately been making their case directly to FCC staff.

Company officials met with members of the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau on June 11 to discuss the petitions, and met with staff from FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty ’s office on June 9 to discuss the company's pending discontinuance applications.

In the meetings with Trusty’s staff, AT&T discussed how the company plans to fulfill its commitment that no customer will be left without access to voice service or 911. All customers affected by the proposed discontinuance will have access to AT&T’s replacement service, AT&T Phone-Advanced, the company said.

Finally, AT&T shared how copper theft is affecting customers on legacy networks. In California alone, the company experienced over 4,000 outages as a result of copper theft in 2025 and has experienced approximately 2,000 outages so far in 2026.

AT&T is seeking permission to discontinue legacy voice service in 360 California wire centers, affecting about 199,000 customers, including 184,000 residential customers and 15,000 business customers.