Source: Sebastopol Times | By Roger Coryell

There’s a new turn in the fight over AT&T’s plan to shut off its old copper phone lines.  On July 15, four groups asked a federal judge in San Diego to let them join AT&T’s lawsuit and fight on California’s side. The four are a group that speaks for the state’s rural counties, a consumer group called TURN, another that speaks for all of California’s counties, and the union for phone workers. Sonoma County is one of the 40 counties the rural group represents.

The same day, the judge, Linda Lopez, let the groups hand the court a brief with their views. AT&T had tried to block even that. Now the groups want more: the right to make their own arguments and to appeal if they lose, instead of leaving the defense to state officials. The judge hasn’t said yes or no yet. 

Source: Vanguard News Group | By Lily Kenrow

The Rural County Representatives of California, California State Association of Counties, The Utility Reform Network and the Communications Workers of America, filed an amicus curiae brief in June in support of the CPUC and the Attorney General in the lawsuit.  While there are pending lawsuits and petitions, California rules remain in place and protect landline services till further decisions are made. 

AT&T has announced that it plans to move away from copper-based services, including phasing out landline services, across California starting June 1, 2027. 

Source: Benton Institute for Broadband & Society

The Utility Reform Network (TURN) has filed a motion to intervene in AT&T’s federal lawsuit against the California Public Utilities Commission and California Attorney General. TURN submitted this filing in partnership with the California State Association of Counties (CSAC), Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC), and the Communications Workers of America (CWA). 

AT&T’s lawsuit aims to have the federal courts determine that California’s Carrier of Last Resort (COLR) rules do not align with federal policy. If successful, California would be unable to enforce these rules against AT&T or any other designated COLR. 

Source: Communications Daily |

The interveners, which include The Utility Reform Network (TURN), the California State Association of Counties, Rural County Representatives of California and the Communications Workers of America, have previously filed briefs in the case in support of California’s COLR requirements.

“California’s COLR rules are the cornerstone to ensuring that every California resident is able to access voice services,” TURN Executive Director Mark Toney said in a Thursday news release about the motion.

Source: Broadband Breakfast | By Jericho Casper

 A federal judge Thursday rejected an effort by AT&T to temporarily stop California regulators from requiring the company to provide basic telephone service.  

AT&T had sought a preliminary injunction in its suit challenging the California Public Utilities Commission’s carrier of last resort rules. U.S. District Judge Linda Lopez of the Southern District of California denied AT&T’s request, allowing the rules to remain in effect while the case moves forward.  

Source: Imperial Valley Press | By Staff Reporting

The legal maneuver, filed in partnership with a broad coalition including The Utility Reform Network (TURN), the California State Association of Counties (CSAC), and the Communications Workers of America (CWA), seeks formal party status in the ongoing battle over California's telecommunications safety net. The lawsuit, brought by Pacific Bell Telephone Company (doing business as AT&T California) in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, seeks to dismantle the state's Carrier of Last Resort (COLR) requirements.

The Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC) has launched a legal bid to protect reliable phone services for millions of rural residents by filing a motion to intervene in AT&T’s federal lawsuit against the state’s utility regulators.

Source: Lost Coast Outpost | By LoCO Staff

The Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC) has taken legal action to protect reliable communications service for rural Californians by filing a motion to intervene in AT&T’s federal lawsuit against the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and the California Attorney General. RCRC conducted this filing in partnership with The Utility Reform Network (TURN), the California State Association of Counties (CSAC), and the Communications Workers of America (CWA).

COLR requirements play a critical role in ensuring access to communications services during emergencies, natural disasters, and power outages. For many rural residents, landline service remains one of the most dependable forms of communication when other networks fail.

Source: Communications Daily | By Philip Athey

Alexandra Green, a telecom and regulatory attorney for TURN, said she appreciated that both proposed decisions include conditions on the merger. "We're still reviewing some of those conditions," she told us. "I can see some cases with each proposed decision where there are conditions that reflect things that TURN and other parties have asked for, and that's encouraging.”  She said more details about TURN's positions on the proposed decisions will be included in the group's comments on the decision, which are due July 29.

In a win for proponents of the Charter/Cox merger, approval of the $34.5 billion deal will be on the California Public Utilities Commission’s agenda at its Aug. 13 voting meeting, a CPUC spokesperson told us Friday. The commission will have the option to vote on two proposals, which were released Thursday and would apply conditions to the transaction. 

Source: The Los Angeles Times | By Jenny Jarvie

The FCC decision does not allow AT&T to immediately discontinue its landlines, said Ryan Johnston, a telecommunications regulatory attorney who works for the Utility Reform Network. The company is still waiting for FCC decisions on two separate applications, he said, plus a federal court ruling on AT&T’s request to bar California from enforcing its carrier of last resort rule.

As telecommunications giant AT&T accelerates its push to retire landline service to about 184,000 households and 15,000 businesses across the state, hundreds of Californians have voiced alarm in public comments. Many who rely on copper-wire landlines live in remote rural areas, but some also live in the hills and canyons of major metro areas like Los Angeles, where cell and internet service is patchy and the risk of natural disasters is high.

Source: USA Today Network | By Daniella Segura

The Rural County Representatives of California on July 1 announced it, along with the California State Association of Counties, The Utility Reform Network, and the Communications Workers of America (CWA), filed an amicus curiae brief supporting state officials in its lawsuit against AT&T. 

AT&T’s plan to eliminate legacy landlines in California made headway after a federal victory last week.  The Federal Communications Commission on June 29 approved a petition by AT&T to end the service in California, even though a state order bars the telecommunications company from doing so, Bay Area News Group reported.  

Source: Washington Watch | By NECA

 The Utility Reform Network, et al. said California’s COLR rules further both the state’s and FCC’s universal service goals and are providing for the public safety and general welfare of California residents. They also said the network modernization order AT&T relies on is too narrowly scoped to be applied here. 

Comments were filed on July 7, 2026, on AT&T’s petition seeking a declaratory ruling that any California law or regulation that interferes with or otherwise conditions AT&T’s ability to discontinue POTS as authorized by the FCC is preempted, following the March 2026 network modernization order.  

Source: NBC Bay Area | By Sergio Quintana

“We have a lot of disasters so when the electricity goes out your cell phone service usually goes out with it. So the CPUC needs to find out from customers how reliable, affordable and stable cell phone service is today and that’s why they are holding these Public Participation hearings” said Lee Trotman, Communications Director of TURN.

The California Public Utilities Commission is inviting the public to provide feedback on cellphone service quality during a series of upcoming hearings. With an estimated 29.5 million cellphone users in California, state regulators want to know how their service is holding up.

Source: Broadband Breakfast | By Jake Neenan

In a June 23 meeting with FCC staff, representatives from the Rural Country Representatives of California (RCRC) and The Utility Reform Network (TURN) urged the agency to remove AT&T’s application from streamlined treatment. The groups argued it wasn’t clear which exact locations would lose service, and that California had not approved AT&T Phone – Advanced (AP-A) as a complete copper landline replacement. The CPUC opposed the application on similar grounds.

On June 29, the Federal Communications Commission cleared AT&T’s request to discontinue copper voice services at more than 184,000 locations in California.  The company’s request for the agency to override the state’s copper retirement rules — and thus allow the discontinuance to move forward with just the FCC approval — is still pending.

Source: The Mercury News | By Ethan Baron

In a related case, The Utility Reform Network, along with a major union and a group representing rural counties, are suing the FCC over its order, titled Reducing Barriers to Network Improvements and Service Changes; Accelerating Network Modernization.  The Utility Reform Network, joined by Rural County Representatives of California and the Communications Workers of America, is asking a federal appeals court to void the order, which would prevent the FCC from overriding state authorities and approving landline cancellations.

The approval does not immediately allow AT&T to disconnect customers. But it keeps alive the company’s broader effort to get federal regulators to override California rules requiring it to maintain basic phone service.  The utility’s win — and a related FCC approval to cease business landline service — came amid a years-long fight against California’s utilities commission that expanded in May when AT&T appealed to the FCC to override state regulators and let it cancel landlines.

Source: Action News Now | By Ainsley Van Reusen

Rural and county representatives are backing California in a legal fight to protect reliable phone service for all residents.  The Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC) and the California State Association of Counties (CSAC) filed an amicus curiae brief supporting the California Public Utilities Commission and the California Attorney General in a lawsuit brought by AT&T. The groups partnered with The Utility Reform Network (TURN) and the Communications Workers of America (CWA) to file the brief.

According to RCRC and CSAC, AT&T is seeking to end its Carrier of Last Resort (COLR) obligations, which require the company to provide basic telephone service to all Californians. The organizations say those obligations help ensure residents have access to reliable communications during disasters, power outages and other emergencies.

Source: YubaNet.com | By Rural County

The Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC) and the California State Association of Counties (CSAC), in partnership with The Utility Reform Network (TURN) and the Communications Workers of America (CWA), have filed an amicus curiae brief supporting the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and the state Attorney General in a lawsuit initiated by AT&T. The lawsuit seeks to relieve AT&T of its Carrier of Last Resort (COLR) obligations and clear the way for the discontinuation of universal service in California.

COLR obligations ensure that all Californians have access to basic telephone service, safeguarding essential communications during disasters, power outages, and other emergencies when public safety is at risk.  

Source: Communications Daily | By Wireline

The Utility Reform Network, Rural County Representatives of California and Communications Workers of America challenged the FCC’s copper retirement order in a lawsuit filed last week in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

The California advocacy groups said in the lawsuit that the order violated both the Constitution and the Communications Act of 1934. “The Order exceeds the Commission’s statutory authority [and] is arbitrary and capricious and an abuse of discretion,” they argued.

Source: The Press Democrat | By Marisa Endicott

“AT&T has taken that and run with it,” said Regina Costa, telecommunications policy director for the Utility Reform Network, a consumer advocacy group.  “It’s a lot of places,” Costa said, listing off Calistoga in Napa County and Middletown, Lakeport and Kelseyville in Lake County as examples. “All of these places have had wildfires, and the argument is from AT&T, ‘Well, they have alternative services,’ but the flip side of this is, are they reliable?”

AT&T has redoubled efforts to end its obligation to provide basic phone service, and especially landlines, across large swaths of California. After failed regulatory bids and a legislative workaround last year, the telecom giant has now taken its yearslong fight to the federal level and the courts.  AT&T has insisted the state’s regulatory system, which requires the utility to provide reliable voice connection to anyone in its service areas, is outdated. And, the increasing resources needed to maintain landline infrastructure used by a shrinking number of Californians, the utility contends, divert from investments in better, modern alternatives.

Source: Communications Daily | By Philip Athey

The Utility Reform Network (TURN) called the joint proposal “a giant step backward for consumers” that would “widen the digital divide,” even with the “small number” of fiber deployments that it includes. In comments filed Friday, TURN also pointed out a number of disagreements that Cal Advocates and AT&T seem to have even within their proposal, including whether the “relief areas” should be geographically contiguous, whether there should be extra enforcement mechanisms beyond what's in the proposal, and whether California Lifeline participation should be perpetual or limited to just five years.

Independent consumer advocacy organizations called on the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to reject a proposal that would allow telecom providers in the state to relinquish their carrier of last resort (COLR) status in exchange for fiber expansion in areas where broadband is already largely available.  

Source: CBS 8 | By Brian White

TURN is advocating for stricter repair timelines and penalties, while warning that AT&T is pushing to loosen those requirements.  “TURN is filing comments and fighting for rules for AT&T and other companies to have faster response time when the service goes out and put teeth in those so they would have to pay bigger fines," Toney said. "That’s what motivates a big company like AT&T. You['ve] got to hit them in the pocketbook or else they have no motivation.”

The outage was caused by storm damage in February, when high winds knocked out key infrastructure. According to AT&T, two critical relay towers were severely damaged. While some areas in Julian have seen service restored, more remote communities like Shelter Valley and Butterfield continue to face prolonged disruptions.  For residents, the lack of reliable communication is more than an inconvenience; it’s a serious safety concern.