California says AT&T lied to FCC in attempt to shut off old phone network
California says AT&T lied to FCC in attempt to shut off old phone network
加州政府指控 AT&T 向联邦通信委员会撒谎，试图强行关闭旧电话网络
California state regulators say AT&T lied to the Federal Communications Commission in an attempt to shut off its old copper phone network without providing an adequate replacement. 加州州政府监管机构表示，AT&T 在试图关闭其旧铜线电话网络时向联邦通信委员会（FCC）撒了谎，且未能提供足够的替代方案。
“AT&T asserts that California seeks to prohibit or hinder wireline carriers from discontinuing copper facilities and investing in fiber,” said a June 15 filing by the state of California and the California Public Utilities Commission. “Indeed, AT&T has been making this argument for years. It is not and has never been true.” “AT&T 声称加州试图禁止或阻碍有线运营商停止使用铜线设施并投资光纤，”加州政府与加州公用事业委员会（CPUC）在 6 月 15 日提交的一份文件中表示，“事实上，AT&T 多年来一直持有这种论调。但这并非事实，也从未成为事实。”
As we reported last month, AT&T sued California over the state’s refusal to let it stop providing phone service to all potential customers in its wireline network territory. AT&T also petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to declare that California cannot enforce its rules and to let AT&T stop providing service to about 199,000 phone customers. 正如我们上个月报道的那样，AT&T 起诉了加州，原因是该州拒绝允许其停止向其有线网络覆盖范围内的所有潜在客户提供电话服务。AT&T 还向联邦通信委员会请愿，要求宣布加州无权执行其相关规则，并允许 AT&T 停止向约 19.9 万名电话用户提供服务。
Although California officials say AT&T is allowed to upgrade copper lines to better technology, such as fiber, AT&T has repeatedly claimed state rules force it to maintain the copper lines. For example, AT&T told the FCC in a petition that “in California, the aging, fragile, and expensive copper lines are still there, frozen in time by California regulations enacted by prior generations for the benefit of prior generations.” 尽管加州官员表示，AT&T 完全可以将其铜线升级为光纤等更先进的技术，但 AT&T 一再声称州政府的规则迫使其必须维护这些铜线。例如，AT&T 在一份请愿书中告诉 FCC：“在加州，那些老化、脆弱且昂贵的铜线依然存在，它们被前几代人为了前几代人的利益而制定的加州法规所‘冻结’在时间里。”
AT&T told the FCC in another filing that “California requires AT&T to continue offering POTS [Plain Old Telephone Service] throughout its territory.” California told the FCC that, in reality, the CPUC declined to adopt rules that would prevent phone companies from replacing copper lines with fiber. In a 2008 decision, it decided that such rules would “discourage and delay fiber systems from being built in California, contrary to clear state legislative direction to bring affordable and widespread high quality communications services to all Californians.” AT&T 在另一份文件中告诉 FCC：“加州要求 AT&T 在其全境继续提供 POTS（普通老式电话服务）。”加州则向 FCC 反驳称，实际上，CPUC 拒绝采纳任何会阻止电话公司将铜线更换为光纤的规则。在 2008 年的一项决定中，该委员会认为此类规则会“阻碍并延缓加州光纤系统的建设，这违背了州立法机构旨在为所有加州人提供负担得起且广泛的高质量通信服务的明确指示。”
California: Wireless replacement not good enough
加州：无线替代方案不够完善
What AT&T wants is the ability to replace copper lines with wireless service in areas where the carrier decides that fiber upgrades wouldn’t be profitable enough. California says the wireless service is not an adequate replacement for wired phone service. AT&T 的诉求是，在那些其认为光纤升级不够盈利的地区，能够用无线服务取代铜线。加州政府认为，无线服务并不能作为有线电话服务的充分替代品。
“AT&T’s discontinuance applications rely principally on the availability of AT&T’s LTE-based Advanced Phone service, and claim that affected customers are served by one or more ‘facilities-based mobile wireless’ provider as well,” California told the FCC this week. “AT&T has not shown, however, that the indoor mobile voice coverage in the affected areas—as opposed to the outdoor coverage—is sufficient to render wireless service an adequate substitute for AT&T’s wireline residential and business services.” “AT&T 的停用申请主要依赖于其基于 LTE 的高级电话服务（Advanced Phone service），并声称受影响的客户同时也由一家或多家‘基于设施的移动无线’运营商提供服务，”加州本周向 FCC 表示，“然而，AT&T 并未证明受影响地区的室内移动语音覆盖（而非室外覆盖）足以使无线服务成为其有线住宅和商业服务的充分替代品。”
AT&T points to the FCC’s National Broadband Map to demonstrate its coverage capabilities, but this map “displays broadband, not voice, coverage,” California said. Meanwhile, the FCC’s Mobile LTE Coverage Map displays voice coverage but includes the disclaimer that it “depicts the coverage a customer can expect to receive when outdoors and stationary” and “is not meant to reflect where service is available when a user is indoors.” 加州指出，AT&T 引用 FCC 的全国宽带地图来证明其覆盖能力，但该地图“显示的是宽带覆盖，而非语音覆盖”。与此同时，FCC 的移动 LTE 覆盖地图虽然显示了语音覆盖，但包含了一项免责声明，即它“仅描述了客户在户外且静止时可以预期的覆盖范围”，并且“并不旨在反映用户在室内时的服务可用性”。
AT&T’s own coverage data can’t show that its mobile network adequately replaces copper-based phone service, California said. The state filing quoted a disclaimer on AT&T’s website that the “map displays approximate outdoor coverage. Actual coverage may vary. Coverage isn’t guaranteed and is subject to change without notice.” 加州表示，AT&T 自己的覆盖数据无法证明其移动网络能够充分替代基于铜线的电话服务。该州的文件引用了 AT&T 网站上的一则免责声明，称“该地图显示的是大致的室外覆盖范围。实际覆盖范围可能会有所不同。覆盖范围不作保证，且如有更改，恕不另行通知。”
Because obstructions such as buildings and walls may affect wireless service quality, “mobile service provider maps cannot reliably determine that a wireless service is an adequate replacement for a wireline service without further proof of indoor coverage,” California said. 加州表示，由于建筑物和墙壁等障碍物可能会影响无线服务质量，“在没有进一步证明室内覆盖的情况下，移动服务提供商的地图无法可靠地确定无线服务是否可以充分替代有线服务。”
Price and 911 concerns
价格与 911 服务担忧
Without a service-quality guarantee for every customer, the wireless technology “conflicts with the requirements of the [FCC’s] Adequate Replacement Test,” California said. Instead of greenlighting AT&T’s applications, the FCC “should require AT&T to confirm with a high level of certainty that mobile coverage will be available to affected customer indoors, not simply outdoors,” California said. 加州表示，由于无法为每位客户提供服务质量保证，这种无线技术“与（FCC 的）充分替代测试要求相冲突”。加州认为，FCC 不应批准 AT&T 的申请，而“应该要求 AT&T 以高度确定的方式确认，受影响的客户在室内也能获得移动覆盖，而不仅仅是在室外。”
California described several other problems with AT&T’s proposal to replace copper lines with wireless service, such as potential price increases and diminished 911 reliability: 加州还描述了 AT&T 用无线服务取代铜线方案的其他几个问题，例如潜在的价格上涨和 911 服务可靠性的降低：
Availability alone does not establish equivalency. A service should not be considered an adequate replacement for the wireline services AT&T now seeks to retire if it costs substantially more than the existing service; requires additional equipment purchases; depends on additional, customer-supplied broadband; fails during commercial power outages without customer-provided backup power; is incompatible with assistive technologies; provides inferior indoor coverage; or results in diminished 911 functionality or reliability. The existence of such barriers indicates that the proposed discontinuance may reduce consumer welfare and undermine the longstanding federal goal of universal service. 仅有可用性并不能建立等效性。如果一项服务比现有服务成本高得多；需要额外购买设备；依赖客户额外提供的宽带；在商业停电期间若无客户提供的备用电源则无法工作；与辅助技术不兼容；室内覆盖较差；或导致 911 功能或可靠性下降，那么它就不应被视为 AT&T 目前寻求淘汰的有线服务的充分替代品。这些障碍的存在表明，拟议的停用可能会降低消费者福利，并破坏联邦政府长期以来实现普遍服务的宗旨。
California said that AT&T Phone-Advanced (AP-A), a VoIP service that relies on the mobile network, could be “considerably more costly than California’s Basic Service: APA relies on a cellular signal or a separate Internet connection and Internet service plan. For areas of the state with a poor cellular signal—typically, rural and low-income areas—consumers would need to order and pay for a separate Internet service, assuming one is available, which would make AP-A more expensive than Basic Service.” 加州表示，依赖移动网络的 VoIP 服务 AT&T Phone-Advanced (AP-A) 可能“比加州的基础服务昂贵得多：APA 依赖于蜂窝信号或单独的互联网连接及互联网服务套餐。对于州内蜂窝信号较差的地区——通常是农村和低收入地区——消费者需要订购并支付单独的互联网服务（假设有的话），这将使 AP-A 比基础服务更昂贵。”
It is also unclear from AT&T’s applications whether AT&T Phone-Advanced supports the California Lifeline program that provides discounts for low-income households, or the California Relay Service for the deaf and hard of hearing, the state filing said. 州政府的文件还指出，从 AT&T 的申请中尚不清楚 AT&T Phone-Advanced 是否支持为低收入家庭提供折扣的“加州生命线”（California Lifeline）计划，或者是否支持为聋哑及听障人士提供的“加州中继服务”（California Relay Service）。