NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – State Sen. Mike McGuire and Assemblymember Jim Wood are spearheading efforts to engage AT&T in the critical need for redundant telecommunication services in rural California.
Recent fiber outages, including a significant outage in September of last year that wiped out much of the North Coast telecommunication and network systems, have left rural residents completely cut off.
The North Coast state legislators and chairs of the County Boards of Supervisors in Sonoma, Mendocino, Lake and Humboldt counties, have officially requested complete telecommunications redundancy, not just “resiliency,” from AT&T in the North Coast.
“Public health and safety is at risk when a simple fiber cut can lead to rural residents being cut off from 911 access for several hours, and when patients are challenged to access their electronic medical records for prescriptions,” Sen. Mike McGuire said. “Reliable Internet and phone service is no longer a luxury, it’s a necessity, and our rural residents deserve better.”
The North Coast has experienced four significant outages over the last year, and the lack of reporting and communication from AT&T left residents, local county and city officials and public safety officers out of the loop.
“Lake County residents deserve to have reliable Internet and phone service,” said Rob Brown, chair of the Lake County Board of Supervisors. “These devastating fiber disruptions are simply unacceptable in the 21st century and a redundant system should have been deployed years ago, before these crises hit the North Coast.”
In addition to the public health and safety threat, large scale fiber outages cost local communities potentially millions of dollars when businesses and financial institutions can’t complete transactions due to lost connectivity of debit and credit card machines.
The Federal Communications Commission also recently stated that Internet service has “steadily shifted from an optional amenity to a core utility.”
In December, AT&T representatives sent a letter to Northern California elected officials stating the company is committed to upgrading the North Coast’s network to increase protection against service disruptions caused by fiber outages.
The legislators and supervisors responded with an official letter this week, asking for more than just a commitment.
“We respectfully request complete telecommunications redundancy for all of AT&T’s North Coast customers. Additionally, we request a detailed outline regarding AT&T’s resiliency proposal and responses as to what steps are being taken to address the concerns,” the letter stated.
The letter was signed by state Sen. Mike McGuire, Assemblyman Jim Wood, Lake County Board of Supervisors Chair Rob Brown, Sonoma County Board of Supervisors Chair Efren Carrillo, Mendocino County Board of Supervisors Chair Dan Gjerde and Humboldt County Board of Supervisors Chair Mark Lovelace.
The Lake County Board of Supervisors approved signing onto the letter at its Jan. 19 meeting.
The letter can be seen below.
North Coast legislators, supervisors want detailed response, followup on largescale AT&T network outages
- Lake County News reports
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