California lawmakers and regulators weigh future of ‘carrier of last resort’ as AT&T seeks relief

SACRAMENTO — The California State Assembly Communications Conveyance Committee held an informational hearing on carrier of last resort (COLR) obligations, commonly called COLR or COLOR, as the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and stakeholders debate whether long-standing regulatory duties tied to landline voice service should be revised for a broadband-era market.

Chair Tasha Burner, chair of the Assembly Communications Conveyance Committee, opened the hearing saying the purpose was “to provide an opportunity for members and the public to gain a better understanding of what COLR has been historically, how it operates in the market today, and also understand what it means for the future.” The committee assembled three panels: a nonpartisan history and law overview, CPUC staff on a pending regulatory process, and stakeholders representing industry and the CPUC’s Public Advocates Office.

The hearing placed AT&T’s 2023 application at center stage. CPUC staff described AT&T’s petition as seeking relief from COLR obligations in the majority of its California territory — an approach AT&T said would follow identification of “demonstrated voice alternatives” in census blocks and would have covered roughly “more than 99%” of its territory as proposed. Rob Osborne, Director of Broadband Consumer Programs and Carrier Oversight at the CPUC, told the committee the CPUC’s initial administrative-law-judge ruling dismissed AT&T’s application for procedural defects; the CPUC also has opened a broader rulemaking to reexamine COLR rules dating from 1996 and the CPUC’s definition of “basic service,” last updated in 2012.

Why it matters: COLR rules guarantee that the incumbent provider in a service territory must offer basic local service — historically dial tone, 911 access and other minimums — to any customer who requests it. Supporters of reform say modern broadband and wireless alternatives make strict landline-era obligations obsolete and that lifting outdated duties would free resources for network…