(Bloomberg) -- The Federal Communications Commission gave AT&T Inc. an early Christmas present: permission to replace old copper home-phone lines with a new wireless landline technology.
The regulatory step is narrow, affecting only a smattering of Oklahoma residences where AT&T is seeking to retire the older and expensive technology. But it’s also a vote of confidence in the company’s new home-phone technology and could open the door for transitioning more communities.
“The FCC’s approval of our application is a significant step forward in our path to modernize our network,” Rhonda Johnson, AT&T’s executive vice president for federal regulatory relations, said in a statement Monday. “This allows us to replace traditional landline service for a small number of our customers with AT&T Phone – Advanced (AP-A). No customers will be left without voice or 911 service.”
The company introduced a landline alternative a year and a half ago that’s compatible with home handsets and services like alarms and medical alerts. The system utilizes the company’s wireless phone network, with the internet as a backup. The additional capabilities helped it overcome long-standing criticism that customers would be cut off from vital services in the switch to alternative networks.
While the FCC decision does set a precedent helpful to AT&T’s future copper-replacement efforts, it must still secure the regulator’s go-ahead to retire the networks in markets where it wants to do so.
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