Individuals who primarily Reside in a Rural Area

Old copper landlines are going the way of so many other aging pieces of technology as smartphones have become the way many people surf the web, pay bills, watch movies and keep up with friends and family. But some residents of L.A. and California—particularly those who live in fire-prone areas—are determined to hold on to their traditional phones. As telecommunications giant AT&T accelerates its push to retire landline service to about 184,000 households and 15,000 businesses across the state, hundreds of Californians have voiced alarm in public comments.

It wasn’t a surprise when Carolina West Wireless decided to sell its wireless business to Verizon. It’s the same old story for a lot of regional and rural carriers. It wasn’t always like this. Twenty or so years ago, smaller carriers raked in the dough from roaming revenues as larger carriers paid for their subscribers to roam onto their networks. But nationwide carriers slowly but surely expanded their coverage, encroaching on the regional operators’ territories, leaving little by way of roaming revenues.

Rural cooperatives have been the backbone of modern efforts to bring affordable next-generation fiber to long-neglected rural U.S.

Republican Steve Hilton has found rare common ground with Democrats in an unlikely arena: landline phone service. The GOP candidate for governor is urging the federal government to stay out of California’s push to prevent AT&T from ending landline service via copper wiring to around 184,000 residential customers and 15,000 business customers. The debate stems over a Federal Communications Commission action on June 29 that advanced the company’s plans, over the objection of California regulators, many residents, and California Attorney General Rob Bonta.

In late September 2024, Hurricane Helene made landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast and drove more than 400 miles inland, into the southern Appalachians, mountain country that does not expect hurricanes. The storm devastated valleys and hollows. Roads were washed out, and in many places the power stayed off for weeks. In Henderson County, North Carolina, local internet provider Morris Broadband went dark. For 80 hours, or more than three days, its network was down.

The Federal Communications Commission's move to potentially gut or end E-Rate is just the latest under Chairman Brendan Carr to place limits on the program.

Uniti submitted its second quarterly report regarding the status of its Rural Digital Opportunity Fund milestone compliance for locations in several states. The company reported on how many new locations in each state were reached with service in the second quarter of 2026:

Safelink Internet submitted a quarterly report regarding its progress toward the 20 percent interim service milestone for its Rural Digital Opportunity Fund authorization in Nevada, Study Area Code 559032. Safelink has deployed and verified qualifying voice and broadband service to 296 locations in its Nevada RDOF service area, approximately 10.86 percent of the locations required by the milestone. Safelink’s broader Nevada fiber construction program, which began in 2021 and reached substantial completion in 2026, covered approximately 14,500 locations in the state.

Skylark Broadband submitted its First Quarterly Compliance Report as subject to Tier 4 non-compliance status under the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund program for SAC 499029 in the state of New Mexico. Skylark has no newly deployed, geocoded broadband locations to report. Skylark’s total obligation under RDOF for SAC 499029 is 940 broadband serviceable locations, with a 40 percent interim milestone requiring certification of 376 deployed locations by March 1, 2026. Zero locations have been certified as deployed. 

Astound Vice President of Regulatory Broadband and Community Relations Fred Maldonado said Astound had submitted 33 Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program applications in Texas, designed to form a single, contiguous fiber route extending from the company’s existing network into more than 30 counties. The state ultimately awarded only five of those applications, leaving Astound with counties sitting far from its existing footprint. “It regrettably became impossible to justify the expense to build to these counties,” Maldonado said. Oregon presented a similar problem.