- Lumen stopped providing wholesale phone services to a Nebraska CLEC, causing it to go out of business in several states
- Cable company Optimum is discontinuing broadband service in some rural areas
- And AT&T is trying to get out of its carrier of last resort obligations in California
Telecom providers and cable companies are ditching areas where they no longer want to serve customers.
Nebraska Technology and Telecommunications (NT&T) just filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to discontinue all its voice and data services in the states of Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and South Dakota. The discontinuance will affect approximately 3,756 customers.
NT&T said it is forced to discontinue services in these states because Lumen Technologies notified it that it will no longer provide wholesale local exchange service for local calls nor wholesale interexchange service for long-distance calls.
NT&T customers have only been given about six weeks to find an alternative provider for their voice and data services. But NT&T said in its filing that affected customers “will not be unduly harmed because they are being provided sufficient notice of the discontinuance and have the option to move service to an alternative provider serving these locations.”
In an attachment to NT&T’s filing, it listed alternative providers in each of the affected states, including CenturyLink, Comcast, Midco, Frontier and Windstream. It should be noted that CenturyLink is owned by Lumen, which has sold its copper-based networks to AT&T. Frontier is now owned by Verizon, and Windstream is now part of Uniti Group.
Consultant and former CEO of Brightspeed Tom Maguire told Fierce, “Apparently NT&T is the non-dominant provider of service, so they do not have COLR [carrier of last resort] obligations."
Fierce asked former FCC Commissioner Michael O’Reilly if NT&T, and for that matter Lumen, can simply decide to leave a market and stop providing services. O’Reilly said, “If you're not the carrier of last resort, basically if you're not the last one standing, it's not usually that problematic because there are alternatives, and that's really what the Commission is concerned about.”
Maguire said NT&T is a CLEC and COLR rules don’t apply to CLECs. “Lots of CLECs folded over the years. I used to run Verizon's Wholesale operations during the heyday of CLECs, and I remember one year we had 132 new CLECs in the footprint, in the next few years they all disappeared.”
But this situation is the reverse. Rather than a CLEC choosing to leave the market, its wholesale provider is abandoning it.
For its part, Lumen Technologies has publicly stated it's not interested in its legacy, residential services and is pivoting the company to enterprise networking for AI. Fierce reached out to Lumen, asking if discontinuing its local exchange and wholesale interexchange will become a trend. A spokesperson said, "While we don't have any additional information to share on this matter at this time, Lumen's priority is to ensure any changes to our portfolio are communicated accurately, responsibly, and at the appropriate time."
Angela Simpson, general counsel for the Competitive Carriers Association (CCA) said, “If these type of things start hitting the local areas where our members are, that will definitely be an issue.”
Cable operator Optimum discontinues some service
In a similar vein, Optimum Communications said in its most recent earnings call with investors that it made the strategic decision to discontinue its hybrid fiber coax (HFC) service in a small number of low-density markets within its West footprint. It expects those customers to transition to other service providers during the third quarter 2026.
“We are committed to supporting impacted customers through a smooth transition and have provided clear timelines, resources and alternative options to help them secure new service,” said an Optimum spokesperson. “Customers in the area have access to at least two other providers offering comparable services.”
The spokesperson added that “Optimum is following all regulatory requirements. The company has gone above its customer notice obligations to help ensure a smooth transition.”
Maguire noted that COLR rules are specific to dial tone. Broadband is not an obligation for anyone.
Decommissioning copper networks
At the same time as companies such as Lumen, NT&T and Optimum are telling customers their service is discontinued, there’s a big push in the U.S. among service providers to retire their copper-based networks.
In March 2025, the FCC instituted some changes to make it easier for service providers to decommission their decades-old copper networks. “Outdated FCC rules have left Americans sitting in the slow lane for far too long,” said FCC Chairman Brendan Carr at the time. The agency’s wireline bureau issued four orders that do the following:
- Allows providers to use streamlined procedures more often when they wish to discontinue copper.
- Allows providers to retire copper networks, not only in cases where replacement voice services are available on a stand-alone basis, but in cases where those services are available on a bundled basis.
- Waives requirements that kicked in whenever a provider “grandfathered” a legacy service—meaning, they stopped offering it to new customers.
- Waives costly and excessive notice requirements in cases where they provide no demonstrable benefit.
And those new rules are having an effect.
Teresa Mastrangelo, senior manager of competitive intelligence at Calix, posted on LinkedIn this week, “Well, it has finally happened....Verizon sent me the message that they are retiring my copper landline. Provided a whole 90-day’s notice. Did not offer an alternative - but instead makes me call an 800 number to sit on hold waiting to talk with someone that doesn't even really know my options.”
However, it’s not completely open season on copper. Operators must still deal with COLR obligations from states. A provider designated as a COLR is required to offer basic telephone services to any customer who requests it and needs the state’s permission before leaving the market.
AT&T struggles with COLR
The most well-known example of a service provider trying to extract itself from its COLR obligations is AT&T in California.
According to AT&T, copper-based networks are outdated and unreliable due to aging technology. Additionally, AT&T says it’s seeing widespread copper theft in California.
After a recent Fierce Network story about AT&T using a multi-prong approach to get out of the California land-line phone business, an AT&T spokesperson reached out with the following comment. “We are only upgrading customers in areas where there is reliable connectivity available from AT&T, like AT&T Phone – Advanced. AP-A works just like traditional phone service over our wireless network and meets the FCC’s standards for replacing traditional phone service.”
AT&T says AP-A has antennas that provide an enhanced wireless signal, which makes it different than a cell phone. “The antennas add a significant gain in signal to what is already available in the home, and the device is stationary once a signal has been established,” said the spokesperson.
Nevertheless, there’s a lot of opposition in California to letting AT&T out of its COLR commitments.
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