Telecommunication

Ribbon Communications, a vendor that does IP routing, is working with MGW Telephone, a third-generation ILEC serving communities across Virginia, to help it transition from legacy TDM infrastructure to an all-IP environment. MGW is using Ribbon's Circuit Emulation Services and NPT platform.

AT&T's plans to shutter its power-hungry copper network in California moved ahead a step or two after the Federal Communications Commission ruled that the operator could start the conversion process for about 184,000 customers in the state. That process targets a subset of AT&T customers who are still using copper-based services in the state. Under the plan, those customers can keep their existing service until it is discontinued on or after June 1, 2027.

When the United States was founded 250 years ago, calling for help meant ringing a bell, firing a cannon, or shouting in the street. Over the past two and a half centuries, Americans have repeatedly reinvented public safety communications, driven by a single objective: getting help where it’s needed, faster. Some highlights from the last 250 years of emergencty communications:

On June 25, 2026, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that would, for the first time, set nationwide limits on how much time state and local governments may take to approve wireline telecommunications deployments (networks delivered over physical lines such as fiber-optic, copper, or coaxial cable) in public rights-of-way and how much they may charge for that access. The proposals would reach state and local governments at every level that issue permits, right-of-way agreements, or pole attachment approvals for fiber and other wireline

This publication that sets out a new financial logic for sustaining digital adoption programs in the United States, arguing that digital adoption programs are essential services that create measurable economic value that benefits a range of sectors.

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.

SpaceX has disrupted the satellite industry. Now, its Starlink unit aims to do the same with America’s telecommunications giants.   SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell at a meeting with investors earlier this year talked about potentially building out a network on the ground to provide mobile service, people familiar with the matter said.

At the Federal Communications Commission, we’re celebrating 250 years of American independence by charting a course to ensure America’s leadership well into the future. With a packed agenda for our July 22 Open Meeting, we’re announcing a big new spectrum auction, supercharging our Space Bureau efforts, protecting consumers, and strengthening our national security. First up, we will vote on an order that adopts rules for the auction of 160 MHz of prime, mid-band spectrum in the Upper C-Band.

The Illinois Office of Broadband (IOB) announced its new Illinois Broadband Permit Map, a leading resource on infrastructure deployment in Illinois. This map shares data on various permitting entities and other features that are helpful in determining where and which permits are necessary for broadband construction.

Copper network retirement in California has taken another litigious turn. In a suit against the Federal Communications Commission, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is asking the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, a federal court in San Francisco, to determine that the FCC's new rules aimed at expediting copper network shutdowns constitutes an overreach that violates federal law and conflicts with notice-and-comment rulemaking requirements.