Source: Politico | By Tyler Katzenberger

Ashley Salas, an attorney with independent consumer advocacy nonprofit The Utility Reform Network, framed it as a public safety issue: “If someone without a social security number that’s low-income sees a wildfire, and they can’t call 911, that hurts everyone in the community.”

California is weighing a first-in-the-nation proposal that would grant some undocumented immigrants access to a government-run phone bill discount program. But the timing is a bit awkward. The proposal, scheduled for an agency vote Sept. 26, would see the state eliminate social security numbers as a requirement for California LifeLine, a program that subsidizes phone bill discounts for low-income residents. California’s Public Utilities Commission agreed to drop the requirement 10 years ago but never did.

Source: ABC10 | By Brandon Rittimanhor

Customers who received some of PG&E’s first new underground power lines are shocked by how little the company buried and frustrated by a lack of clear communication

Source: Redheaded Blackbelt | By Sarah Reith

Regina Costa is the telecommunications policy director for TURN, The Utility Reform Network, which fought vigorously against AT&T’s proposal. She is confident the successful effort to hold AT&T to its obligations as COLR was due in part to “the people of Mendocino County and Humboldt County, people who drove and waited for hours to give public testimony on the problems with AT&T’s proposals. What you guys did made a massive difference.” The fight for quality service in rural California isn’t over, though. One common complaint is that AT&T doesn’t maintain its network to a high standard. Regina Costa says the CPUC is now looking “very closely” at a report on service quality issues. “Part of that report discusses what AT&T admitted, which is that it doesn’t maintain its network because it doesn’t have staff,” she said. “Well, they made the decision to reduce their staff.” She says the commission is now considering if there is a way to force the utility to increase its personnel. “Most of the time, even when the lines are horrible, if they could still at least work, you’ve got something,” she observed.

A bill that would have relieved telephone companies of their legal obligation to provide essential telecommunications services at affordable prices was pulled from a key committee on Monday, meaning it is not currently on its way to a vote by the full House.

Source: San Jose Spotlight | By Brandon Pho

A representative with The Utility Reform Network (TURN), an Oakland-based group that advocates for affordable connectivity, said AT&T retreated and pulled the bill in the face of public scrutiny. “Californians saw through AT&T’s smoke and mirrors,” TURN’s Telecom Policy Director Regina Costa told San José Spotlight. “The bill wasn’t about modernizing AT&T’s network, it was about giving AT&T the power to walk away from providing any kind of service wherever it chose.”

A state bill that would have let AT&T off the hook for emergency landline service — circumventing state regulators and affecting remote pockets of Santa Clara County — is on hold after public backlash. Assembly Bill 2797 has been pulled from the California Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee meeting slated for Tuesday. It comes after the bill — originally about horse racing — was gutted and amended to give telecommunications companies another way out of their “carrier of last resort” duty if they submit a notice showing a lack of customers or that alternative services are available. Critics said AT&T is behind the bill, which Assemblymember Tina McKinnor introduced just before state utility regulators denied AT&T’s request to withdraw from its state obligation.

Source: KTVU Fox 2 | By Ann Rubin

Right now, AT&T is what's called a carrier of last resort. It's required by law to offer landline service to anyone in California who wants it. But that could soon change thanks to proposed legislation. AB 2797 would make it easier for AT&T to pull out of certain areas. "If this passes, they are not obliged to provide service, which means they can pull completely out of serving an area. They can decide they don't want to serve certain neighborhoods. They can decline service to customers, refuse to repair their phone lines," says Regina Costa of The Utility Reform Network or TURN.

Politicians and utility advocates are speaking out. They say Californians' right to landlines needs to be protected, and they're concerned proposed legislation puts that right in jeopardy. In this part of Santa Clara County, when there are wildfires or earthquakes, landlines can be lifelines. Mary Picchetti says her neighbors are all scared they could lose theirs.

Source: Bay City News | By Ruth Dusseault

“Copper uses electricity. But when the power goes out, the power is provided from the telephone company by very big generators,” said Regina Costa with The Utility Reform Network, a nonprofit watchdog group that advocates for affordable power and phone service. “When an earthquake hits and the power’s out for two or three days, you still have local phone service.”

The California Public Utilities Commission has rejected AT&T’s request to withdraw as a carrier of last resort, or COLR, but it also decided to revisit the rules of determination. Meanwhile, a new bill in the state Legislature would revise the requirements for any company to be designated the COLR. The COLR is a cornerstone of utility regulation. It obligates a carrier to provide basic service to all customers within their territory no matter where they live. It can provide telephone service over any technology, such as copper, fiber, cable, voice over internet protocol (VoIP is a combination of copper and fiber), or wireless cellular. AT&T California has held that designation since 1996. It planted utility poles and strung copper telephone wire throughout the state.

Source: CalMatters | By Khari Johnson

California’s Public Utilities Commission today rejected AT&T’s application to stop providing landlines and other services in areas where there is no other option.

Its 4-0 vote came after a judge determined the application by AT&T California was “fatally flawed.”

Source: SF Chronicle | By Aidin Vaziri

AT&T must continue offering landline telephone service in California, state regulators decided Thursday.

Source: San Jose Spotlight | By Brandon Pho

Affordable connectivity advocates like Regina Costa don’t buy it. “They have the ability right now to put fiber optic into their network and they have chosen not to. So what does that say?” Costa, telecom policy director for the Oakland-based utility reform group TURN, told San José Spotlight. “In the era of climate change there are going to be more and more problems and that includes fires. If you are in an area that doesn’t have a reliable alternative, which is much of California, and we’re hit by an earthquake or have fires — you cannot rely on being able to call 911 to contact family, friends to let them know you’re okay.” Costa called the bill “cynical.” “It’s a greedy bill and it puts Californians in jeopardy,” Costa said. “It would be a public safety catastrophe.”

After public outcry across the Bay Area, state regulators this week barred AT&T from pulling out of a crucial lifeline for hard-to-reach residents in remote pockets of Santa Clara County: basic landline services. But on the eve of the California Public Utilities Commission’s Thursday decision, a state law proposal about horse racing was gutted and amended to legislation that would give the telecommunications giant another way to phase out its statewide landline duty. The new Assembly Bill 2797 would relieve telephone carriers from their “carrier of last resort” designation if they submit a notice showing a lack of basic customers or that alternative carrier services are available in a given area.

Source: The Mercury News | By Ethan Baron

The Utility Reform Network estimated that hundreds of thousands of households in the Bay Area and millions around California would have lost landline service if the California Public Utilities Commission had approved AT&T’s proposal. “It’s a great victory for Californians,” said Regina Costa, telecommunications policy director for The Utility Reform Network.

State utility regulators Thursday unanimously shot down a massively unpopular proposal by AT&T to scrap landline service for most of the Bay Area and much of California that critics charged would have stripped many older people and rural residents of a communications lifeline in power outages and disasters such as fires and floods.

Source: LAist | By Nereida Moreno

“We're now in fire season and people had better have a way to receive emergency alerts and communicate with each other when the power goes out,” said Regina Costa of the advocacy group TURN. It helped organize residents around the landline issue. “AT&T did not prove its case at the commission … they didn't present any evidence to show that customers would have any real alternatives, and in fact, they admitted that they don't,” Costa said. “In California, we tend to look at things a little more closely, so hopefully [lawmakers] will see through this,” Costa said.

After months of public backlash, California regulators are expected to reject AT&T’s bid to phase out landline service at a meeting on Thursday this week — but the company is still exploring other legal remedies. AT&T is trying to withdraw as a carrier of last resort (COLR) which requires the company to offer basic phone service to anyone who wants it. It’s held that designation since 1996, and remains one of the only companies in the state to offer traditional copper-based landline service.

Source: LAist | By Nereida Moreno

Regina Costa, Telecommunications Policy Director for the advocacy organization, TURN, provided the following comments on our May 10 radio interview.

-I expect the CPUC to approve the proposal to dismiss AT&T's application. AT&T could not show that there are other carriers who will serve everyone and tried to argue that was irrelevant. That doesn't jive with the law or the CPUC rules and is rightfully being rejected.

-We would not be surprised if AT&T goes to the legislature. AT&T is trying to pitch this as an application to promote broadband. It is the opposite. It is a proposal that would allow them to pick and choose who to serve, leaving entire communities and many neighborhoods that they deem undesirable out in the cold. I sent her the April 24 Earnings Call, and the quote from the AT&T Director, CEO, and President.

-The Administrative Law Judge rightly pointed out that nothing is stopping AT&T from deploying its advanced network right now.

-Californians turned out in droves to the public participation hearings, in person and after waiting hours on the phone. They overwhelmingly said that AT&T is wrong, that there are no alternatives in much of AT&T's territory, and the Commission should reject the proposal.

-The new CPUC proceeding will be very, very important, because it is about universal service - how to ensure that every Californian can receive essential communications services, without discrimination. Discrimination isn't just price discrimination, it is what services are available. And what is meant by basic service. And should it incorporate reliability requirements.

Source: Redheaded Blackbelt | By Sarah Reith

“ ‘AT&T is touting this application as pro broadband,’ [Regina Costa] remarked … But as the judge pointed out, nothing in the application actually does that. There is a lot of could, and would.’…”

AT&T will likely have to continue as the carrier of last resort in California, relieving some anxiety about the future of landlines in rural parts of the state.…

Source: Point Reyes Light | By Ben Stocking

““What AT&T really wants is to stop providing essential telecom service to 99 percent of its service area, without providing a shred of evidence that there are real alternatives,” said Regina Costa of The Utility Reform Network, an Oakland-based consumer group. .”

A judge has issued a stinging opinion recommending that the California Public Utilities Commission reject AT&T’s request to end landline service in California—a move that would leave thousands of West Marin customers without reliable service.

Source: Cal Matters | By Khari Johnson

If fiber optic cables that power internet connectivity were like nerves in your body, middle mile broadband is like the spinal column that acts as a central bundle of nerves while the last mile is like the nerves in your fingers or tips of your toes, said Alexandra Green, an attorney for The Utility Reform Network. She follows developments in the middle-mile broadband program as part of her job. Last fall, advocacy groups like the Utility Reform Network criticized state agencies for excluding historically marginalized communities in Oakland and Los Angeles from the statewide middle-mile broadband installation map while keeping projects in more affluent areas. “Now all of a sudden that $1.5 billion he committed to funding the rest of the projects, there’s no longer a guarantee basically,” she said. “That’s one of our concerns generally: Equitable access for low income Black and brown historically redlined communities.” Green said the planned cuts raise her level of concern for how the state will treat broadband installation projects in those communities.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s newest budget proposal calls for $2 billion in cuts to public broadband projects meant to bring high-speed internet to all Californians and close the digital divide. The reduction is part of Newsom’s updated plan to close a $44.9 billion shortfall.

Source: USA Today | By Betty Lin-Fisher

While the rejection is a proposal and still needs to be approved by the commission, Regina Costa, telecommunications policy director for The Utility Reform Network (TURN) in California, said she fully expects the board to approve it. “What AT&T really wants is to stop providing essential telecom service to 99% of its service area, without providing a shred of evidence that there are real alternatives. This includes many areas threatened by wildfires, earthquakes, floods and power shutoffs," Costa said in a press release. "If AT&T gets its wish, it would significantly jeopardize public safety." In an interview with USA TODAY, Costa, who is also chair of the telecommunications committee for the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates, said California's proposed rejection of the landline waiver is on top of a recent rejection in Utah for another utility to waive its obligation to provide landlines. "I think it's very important for consumers nationwide,'' Costa said. "I think that would give other states the impetus to look at the same thing."

California utility regulators are proposing rejecting a request by AT&T to eliminate its responsibility to provide traditional landline phone service. That could have implications nationwide, a consumer advocate said. Fewer telephone companies are offering basic landline phone service as the utilities say the copper-wire infrastructure is old and expensive to maintain, and the demand for landline phone service is low as consumers move to mobile and other services.

Source: The Press Democrat | By Marisa Endicott

“A woman described how essential her internet service has been in facilitating medical appointments for her mother in hospice care. ‘I strongly encourage policies that support a modern and robust network for everything in California,’ she said. ‘I don’t want the CPUC to stand in the way of progress.”

The backlash from California communities and officials has been swift and steady as state regulators consider whether to release AT&T from…

Source: CBS News | By Ruth Dusseault

According to Regina Costa with The Utility Reform Network, a nonprofit watchdog group that advocates for affordable power and phone service, the two designation requests are linked in a slight-of-hand to get out from regulations. If AT&T is released as the COLR, then it is no longer obligated to provide basic service. "There's the catch," said Costa, "They are saying they will provide California LifeLine, but only where it has an obligation. At the same time, they are asking for a release of the obligation as carrier of last resort. So, it's really a lot of smoke and mirrors." Costa says that AT&T is allowed to offer LifeLine using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), which is a digital service that can be transmitted on either copper or fiber optic wires, but she says the company chooses not to do that. "So, it is being pitched as if they are getting rid of these old, antiquated lines," Costa said. AT&T also co-owns most of the utility poles with PG&E, said Costa. "So, if you want to use the pole, you have to negotiate with AT&T."

On Tuesday, over 200 phone comments were heard by the California Public Utilities Commission over their consideration to release AT&T from its obligation to serve as the state's carrier of last resort. The carrier of last resort designation, or COLR, is a cornerstone of utility regulation. It obligates a carrier to serve all customers within their territory no matter where they live, even in places with spotty cellphone service.

Source: RedHeaded Blackbelt | By Sarah Reith

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.”

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.

Source: National Public Radio: Marketplace Tech | By Lily Jamali & Rosie Hughes

Regina Costa, telecom policy director at the Utility Reform Network, an advocacy group, told Marketplace’s Lily Jamali that having a “carrier of last resort” matters. Regina Costa: It means it can’t pick and choose that it will provide service to some customers and not others. It means the service is supposed to be reliable. It means they decide they’re going to put money into this neighborhood, but not that neighborhood. It’s based on the notion that it is absolutely imperative for society that everyone in our nation has the ability to get essential communication service, for your family, for communicating with your job, for communicating with your school, for communicating with social service agencies and other governments, and especially in times of emergencies.

Before cellphones, a twisted pair of copper wires that linked our homes to the local phone company kept us all connected. Today, in much of California, telecom giant AT&T is still required to provide that basic landline phone service to anyone who wants it. Now though, AT&T is asking regulators to be relieved of that obligation. “No customer will be left without voice or 911 service,” the company says. Californians weighing in, by and large, are skeptical.