REGIONAL— Frontier Communications is seeking to terminate its copper infrastructure in much of its northern Minnesota service territory, including in Koochiching, Lake, and northern St. Louis counties. And that effort could set up a legal dispute between the state of Minnesota and the federal government.
In a letter sent to customers in the Orr area earlier this month, Frontier announced that their traditional copper landline service will be discontinued on or before Nov. 16 of this year, pending approval from the Federal Communication Commission, or FCC.
The company is indicating that it or other service providers can meet the needs of customers throughout its coverage area using cellular, fiber, or other technologies, and that it no longer makes economic sense to maintain its deteriorating copper infrastructure.
Some in the Orr area are questioning that claim, since many parts of the region still lack fiber and cellular coverage remains spotty in more remote areas. In those areas, copper land lines are the only existing reliable means of outside communication for residents. Many of the remaining land line customers in the region are elderly, who rely on their phones to reach emergency services.
Frontier is citing a new FCC rule, dubbed the Networks Modernization Order, which went into partial effect in May and which seeks to speed the transition away from copper networks. That rule could conflict with a new state law in Minnesota that took effect July 1. The new law requires telecommunications companies seeking to transition from legacy networks, like copper, to file transition plans with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission and receive approval from the commission. As part of that plan, the company requesting to phase out older infrastructure must document that residents in the affected areas have adequate access to one or more other providers, such as a cellular or fiber network.
Frontier filed its transition plan with the MPUC on July 7, and the MPUC is currently holding a public comment period on certain legal questions through July 27 and plan to post notice of another comment period on the substance of Frontier’s proposal in the near future.
Frontier is contending that the new FCC rules preempt the new state law and that it is complying with the state’s new established process merely as a courtesy, and is not bound by any decision, timelines, or process established by state regulators.
The legal questions posed by the situation are significant, and the MPUC is seeking briefs from qualified parties to help the commission answer some of them, including whether the federal rule does, in fact, preempt state law, and whether the commission, on its own, has the authority to make that determination, or whether the question must go to the courts.
Watch for more on this developing story in upcoming editions of the Timberjay.