AT&T loses key ruling in bid to stop offering basic phone service in California
AT&T loses key ruling in bid to stop offering basic phone service in California
AT&T 在停止加州基础电话服务业务的诉求中遭遇关键裁决失利
California can keep enforcing rules that require AT&T to offer basic phone service to new customers in its wireline territory, following a federal judge’s ruling last week. AT&T sued California in May in a bid to end the state’s Carrier of Last Resort (COLR) rules that require it to offer telephone service to any potential customer in its territory. AT&T asked for a preliminary injunction that would prevent California from enforcing the COLR rules while the litigation continues.
根据联邦法官上周的裁决，加州可以继续执行相关规定，要求 AT&T 在其有线网络覆盖区域内向新客户提供基础电话服务。AT&T 于今年 5 月起诉加州，试图废除该州的“最后服务提供商”（Carrier of Last Resort，简称 COLR）规则，该规则要求其必须向辖区内任何潜在客户提供电话服务。AT&T 此前申请了一项初步禁令，旨在诉讼期间阻止加州执行这些 COLR 规则。
To win a preliminary injunction, AT&T had to show it is likely to succeed on the merits of its claim that California rules are preempted by a Federal Communications Commission order. US District Judge Linda Lopez denied AT&T’s request for a preliminary injunction during a motion hearing on Thursday, according to a docket entry. The case is in US District Court for the Southern District of California.
为了赢得初步禁令，AT&T 必须证明其主张——即加州规则已被联邦通信委员会（FCC）的命令所取代——在法律依据上很可能会胜诉。根据法庭记录，美国地方法官琳达·洛佩兹（Linda Lopez）在周四的动议听证会上驳回了 AT&T 的初步禁令请求。该案件目前在美国加州南区联邦地区法院审理。
AT&T wants to stop offering basic phone service to new customers and discontinue service for 184,000 residential customers and 15,000 business customers on June 1, 2027. AT&T said the injunction it requested would let it stop offering service to new customers immediately, and that it would preserve service for existing customers while litigation continues. AT&T could appeal Lopez’s ruling to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and could appeal later if it loses the underlying case. But since it has not obtained the injunction it asked for, AT&T for now remains under California’s orders to keep offering phone service to potential customers while the case continues.
AT&T 希望停止向新客户提供基础电话服务，并计划在 2027 年 6 月 1 日终止 18.4 万名住宅客户和 1.5 万名商业客户的服务。AT&T 表示，其申请的禁令将使其能够立即停止向新客户提供服务，同时在诉讼期间维持现有客户的服务。AT&T 可以就洛佩兹法官的裁决向第九巡回上诉法院提起上诉，如果最终败诉，未来还可以继续上诉。但由于目前未能获得所申请的禁令，在案件审理期间，AT&T 仍需遵守加州的命令，继续向潜在客户提供电话服务。
California suggests AT&T upgrade old lines to fiber
加州建议 AT&T 将旧线路升级为光纤
AT&T has said it has received relief from COLR obligations in 20 of the 21 states in its wireline service territory, all except California. AT&T alleges that “California requires AT&T to spend $1 billion each year to maintain a century-old telephone network that almost no one uses.” AT&T wants to shut off the copper lines used for its Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS), but is not promising to replace those copper lines with fiber. In any area where AT&T determines it is not profitable enough to install modern phone lines, customers would have to rely on the cellular network for home phone service.
AT&T 表示，在其有线服务覆盖的 21 个州中，除加州外，其余 20 个州已免除了其 COLR 义务。AT&T 声称：“加州要求 AT&T 每年花费 10 亿美元来维护一个几乎无人使用的百年电话网络。”AT&T 希望关闭用于其“老式电话服务”（POTS）的铜线，但并未承诺用光纤替换这些铜线。在 AT&T 认为安装现代电话线路利润不足的任何地区，客户将不得不依赖蜂窝网络来获取家庭电话服务。
California insists that AT&T must keep offering basic phone service over either the old copper wires or a modern equivalent, such as fiber lines. Opposing the AT&T motion for an injunction, California Attorney General Rob Bonta and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) said the FCC order allowing carriers to stop offering copper-wire service does not conflict with California rules.
加州坚持认为，AT&T 必须继续通过旧铜线或现代替代方案（如光纤线路）提供基础电话服务。加州总检察长罗伯·邦塔（Rob Bonta）和加州公用事业委员会（CPUC）在反对 AT&T 的禁令动议时表示，FCC 允许运营商停止提供铜线服务的命令与加州的规则并不冲突。
“The FCC granted permission for carriers to grandfather services ‘provisioned over copper wire.’ Contrary to AT&T’s representations in the Motion, the COLR rules do not ‘conflict’ with the NMO [the FCC’s Network Modernization Order], because they do not require AT&T to continue offering copper-line POTS to new customers,” California said.
加州方面表示：“FCC 允许运营商对‘通过铜线提供’的服务进行存量化处理（grandfathering）。与 AT&T 在动议中的陈述相反，COLR 规则与 NMO（FCC 的网络现代化命令）并不‘冲突’，因为这些规则并不要求 AT&T 继续向新客户提供铜线 POTS 服务。”
Calling the lawsuit a “facade,” state officials said AT&T can offer basic phone service over fiber: All the COLR rules require is that AT&T offer basic service to its customers; in fact, AT&T already offers basic service through fiber connections instead of copper connections in some locations… AT&T is using its “analog versus digital” narrative as more palatable window dressing for the relief that it actually wants, namely, a release from its obligations as a COLR altogether. This attempt to manufacture a conflict between federal and state law where there isn’t one cannot succeed. The Court need not go any further.
加州官员称这起诉讼是“虚有其表”，并表示 AT&T 完全可以通过光纤提供基础电话服务：COLR 规则唯一的要求就是 AT&T 向客户提供基础服务；事实上，AT&T 在某些地区已经通过光纤连接而非铜线连接提供基础服务……AT&T 正在利用其“模拟与数字”的叙事作为一种更易被接受的包装，以掩盖其真实目的，即彻底摆脱其作为 COLR 的义务。这种试图在联邦法律和州法律之间制造并不存在的冲突的做法是不会成功的。法院无需再深入审理。
AT&T claims “irreparable harm” from California rules
AT&T 声称加州规则造成“不可弥补的损害”
AT&T argued that the legal requirements for a preliminary injunction “are easily satisfied.” It said “the Federal Communications Act preempts any California laws or regulations that prevent AT&T from effectuating the grandfathering of POTS that the FCC has already authorized.” Without a preliminary injunction, “AT&T will suffer irreparable harm to both its business interests and its constitutional rights,” the carrier’s motion said.
AT&T 辩称，初步禁令的法律要求“很容易满足”。该公司表示：“《联邦通信法》优先于任何阻止 AT&T 执行 FCC 已授权的 POTS 存量化处理的加州法律或法规。”该运营商的动议称，如果没有初步禁令，“AT&T 的商业利益和宪法权利将遭受不可弥补的损害。”
AT&T also said that “the CPUC has made clear that it will not permit AT&T to substitute a feasible, superior alternative like mobile wireless or AT&T Phone-Advanced, a service that relies on AT&T’s mobile wireless network but allows customers to use existing, analog phones.”
AT&T 还表示，“CPUC 已明确表示，不会允许 AT&T 使用可行且更优的替代方案，例如移动无线服务或 AT&T Phone-Advanced——这是一种依赖 AT&T 移动无线网络，但允许客户使用现有模拟电话的服务。”
California said its rules are “technology-neutral,” allowing AT&T to use wired, wireless, and/or VoIP service to fulfill its COLR obligations. While AT&T says its wireless AT&T Phone-Advanced (AP-A) is a suitable replacement for copper, California said that “AT&T has never formally sought to substitute POTS with AP-A.” AT&T “does not want to meet its COLR obligations through AP-A; it seeks relief from meeting them at all,” California said.
加州表示，其规则是“技术中立”的，允许 AT&T 使用有线、无线和/或 VoIP 服务来履行其 COLR 义务。虽然 AT&T 声称其无线服务 AT&T Phone-Advanced (AP-A) 是铜线的合适替代品，但加州指出，“AT&T 从未正式申请用 AP-A 取代 POTS。”加州表示，AT&T “并不想通过 AP-A 来履行其 COLR 义务；它寻求的是完全免除这些义务。”
AT&T doesn’t promise that AP-A will meet state requirements for basic service, California said. Those state requirements include flat-rate options for unlimited voice calls, discounted Lifeline rates for eligible low-income customers, and telephone relay service for the deaf and hard of hearing, California said.
加州表示，AT&T 并未承诺 AP-A 将满足州政府对基础服务的要求。加州指出，这些州政府要求包括无限语音通话的统一费率选项、为符合条件的低收入客户提供的 Lifeline 折扣费率，以及为聋哑和听障人士提供的电话中继服务。
AT&T seeking more help from FCC
AT&T 寻求 FCC 提供更多帮助
The FCC grandfathering order that AT&T cited in its lawsuit applied industry-wide, not specifically to AT&T. But AT&T also asked the FCC for an order specifically preempting California’s COLR mandates and related requirements, such as tariffing and Lifeline participation rules. California told the FCC that AT&T is lying when it claims that state rules prevent it from replacing copper with fiber. The Utility Reform Network, an advocacy group in California, told the FCC that AT&T’s wireless home phone service is “an ill-suited replacement for existing legacy infrastructure.”
AT&T 在诉讼中引用的 FCC 存量化命令适用于整个行业，而非专门针对 AT&T。但 AT&T 也已请求 FCC 发布一项专门命令，优先于加州的 COLR 指令及相关要求（如定价和 Lifeline 参与规则）。加州向 FCC 表示，AT&T 声称州规则阻碍其用光纤替换铜线是在撒谎。加州的倡导组织“公用事业改革网络”（The Utility Reform Network）向 FCC 表示，AT&T 的无线家庭电话服务是“现有遗留基础设施的不当替代品”。