Outcry Against AT&T’s Bid to Drop Landline Commitments at Yesterday’s PUC Meeting in Ukiah

Source: Redheaded Blackbelt |  By Sarah Reith

The Board of Supervisors chambers, the overflow room, and the courtyard at the Mendocino County government campus were packed yesterday for a highly interactive public participation hearing about two proposals from AT&T. The California Public Utilities Commission is evaluating the company’s request to relinquish its status as an eligible telecommunications carrier and to be released from its obligation to continue as the carrier of last resort, or COLR.

But many people testified that AT&T is not maintaining its infrastructure. And Regina Costa, telecom policy director for TURN, The Utility Reform Network, a ratepayer advocacy organization, disputed the idea of robust competition for reliable phone service. “These guys had the advantage because they had a monopoly for many, many decades,” she said in an interview before the hearing.” And they had customer support for many decades. There was a point in time where they allowed competition for local service, but very few of those companies survived.”