Assembly Bill 470:
Fact Check
FACT: AB 470 will leave Californians disconnected.
AB 470 would permit AT&T to terminate its Carrier of Last Resort (COLR) obligations. This would end landline phone service to millions of resident and business customers and eliminate mandates to provide basic service.
The bill also authorizes AT&T to abandon maintenance of landline communications infrastructure, a dependable resource for vulnerable communities that helps them stay connected during emergencies.
FACT: AB 470 does not offer California communities a real, reliable investment in modern telecommunications infrastructure.
AT&T claims AB 470 gives the company the freedom to upgrade their infrastructure. But this is not true. It’s about giving AT&T the freedom to walk away—from poor, rural, Tribal, and high-cost communities they see as bad for business.
There is no enforcement mechanism in AB 470 that ensures telecommunications providers like AT&T will actually build fiber or maintain affordable connectivity options. Instead, AB 470 allows companies to cherry-pick investments in the neighborhoods they deem profitable.
FACT: AB 470 prioritizes AT&T’s profits over public safety, equity, and accountability.
AT&T has poured millions of dollars into lobbying for COLR withdrawal because they do not want to spend money updating their existing landline networks that many residents continue to depend on.
Make no mistake, AB 470 is about corporate greed, not public interests.
FACT: AB 470 eliminates CPUC oversight, which means regulators lose power to protect the public.
The bill establishes a map-based review process that does not require telecommunications providers to prove service actually works during outages and wildfires. They just have to be listed as a provider on the map.
Just because a provider exists on paper doesn’t mean they actually serve everyone. FCC wireless maps are based on whether you can get a signal outdoors, not whether it works in your home.