Industry, Groups Clash on Legal Standing of Calif. COLR Revisions
Wireless carriers and industry groups warned the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) against expanding its nearly 30-year-old carrier of last resort (COLR) rules to cover broadband, citing legal and technical limitations, in comments filed Friday (docket R.24-06-012). The filings came in response to an administrative law judge’s request for comment on two April workshops about proposed changes and the current landscape. While AT&T and others pushed to eliminate COLR obligations in areas with competition, consumer advocates argued that the rules remain essential to ensure universal access to basic voice service as the CPUC weighs changes.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
AT&T argued that the commission "can eliminate the COLR requirement today in substantial parts" without leaving residents without service. The CPUC "has a unique and immediate opportunity" to attract other providers in needed areas through government programs, "instead of imposing the responsibility on an unwilling COLR." The carrier said COLRs "cannot satisfy their basic service requirement with VoIP or mobile wireless."
The COLR rules are "premised on a rate-regulated monopoly environment" that's "entirely inconsistent with the highly competitive environment" in California, said CTIA. The CPUC can't require wireless providers to serve as a COLR because it's preempted from engaging in "rate and entry regulation."
The current framework is "outdated," said the California Broadband & Video Association (CalBroadband). It urged the CPUC to remove mandatory obligations in areas with "effective competition" and maintain the definition of "basic service." Any COLR obligations "should remain only in geographic areas that truly lack sufficient competitive voice alternatives," CalBroadband said, adding that new or additional providers shouldn't be subject to the rules.
Empowering Quality Utility Access for Isolated Localities (EQUAL) said the transition from non-copper-based technology "will require substantial commission oversight and meaningful penalties for service failures." Many ancillary devices "rely on the well-understood analog [plain old telephone service] interface with switch-provided power," the group noted, and the cost of converting basic service to another technology to ensure that critical devices can reliably operate without interruption "may not be trivial." EQUAL also cautioned the CPUC against relying on competition alone, saying that requiring an existing COLR to "facilitate a replacement COLR by selling its copper network would be far more likely to achieve reliable basic service."
There's "no legal barrier or component of the COLR rules that prevents a COLR from offering basic service using a fiber or wireless network," said The Utility Reform Network and Center for Accessible Technology in joint comments. They noted that some COLRs provide basic landline service using VoIP networks, which "will continue to be the case as COLRs transition their networks to newer technologies." The groups also argued that the rules have "been a tremendous benefit" to incumbent local exchange carriers.
The CPUC Public Advocates Office agreed. "The present legal framework allows for basic service tariffing of VoIP and wireless service and provides for the regulatory processes to satisfy service quality requirements," it said: "Cal Advocates finds no legal barrier and nothing about the COLR rules which would prevent a COLR from offering basic service using a fiber or wireless network."
There are no technological barriers to providing voice service over a fiber connection, said Consolidated Communications. In areas where COLR service remains necessary, the CPUC could require voice-grade connections and access to enhanced 911 "without mandating the longer list of features in the current basic service definition," the carrier said. Consolidated also called itself the "poster child for COLR relief" because of the "100% coverage by wireless providers and nearly ubiquitous coverage by wireline competitors."
COLR obligations are "the only enforceable mechanism currently ensuring" universal access, said the Small Business Utility Advocates. The group urged the CPUC not to conclude that low landline subscription rates equate to a lack of need. "The data may show decline, but the underlying demand persists." It said competition alone doesn't "safeguard access or equity," urging the commission to adopt strong standards before relinquishing COLR obligations.