AT&T Sues California Over Copper Landline Mandate

May 21, 2026 – A federal lawsuit filed Wednesday seeks to end a state requirement forcing a major carrier to offer traditional copper-wire telephone service to new customers statewide.

AT&T filed the suit in federal court in Southern California against the California Public Utilities Commission and California Attorney General Rob Bonta.

The company argues it spends roughly $1 billion annually maintaining a copper network that now serves only 3 percent of households in its California service territory.

AT&T said it plans to invest $19 billion in California and connect more than 4 million additional homes and businesses by 2030 through modern internet protocol-based communications networks, which it described as more reliable and efficient than legacy copper infrastructure.

The company also asked the Federal Communications Commission Wednesday for permission to discontinue traditional phone service in parts of California where alternative services are available.

In a separate FCC filing, AT&T asked the agency to preempt California rules that require the company to continue selling, repairing, and powering traditional landline service even after receiving federal approval to retire those facilities.

AT&T argued that transitioning away from copper would reduce energy consumption by an estimated 300 million kilowatt-hours annually by 2030, equivalent to eliminating emissions from 17 million gallons of gasoline.

The company also cited approximately 2,000 outages caused by copper theft in California this year and difficulties sourcing replacement parts for aging equipment.

The lawsuit marks the latest step in AT&T's long-running effort to retire its copper network nationwide. Earlier this year, the company received federal approval to discontinue copper-based service in portions of 18 states and has said it plans to retire the large majority of its copper footprint outside California by the end of 2029.

California has remained a major exception to those plans. AT&T previously said the state was excluded from its broader copper-retirement strategy after regulators declined the company's request to lift its carrier-of-last-resort obligations, which require it to continue providing basic telephone service throughout its territory.

AT&T has argued that newer technologies, including fiber, fixed wireless, and satellite, can replace legacy copper more efficiently.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the percent of customers in the affected copper footprint which would receive fiber service.