Disagreement Continues on AT&T 3G Sunset

AT&T asked the FCC to reject an Alarm Industry Communications Committee request to delay AT&T's Feb. 22 3G data sunset, but others backed AICC. Replies were posted through Wednesday in docket 21-304. Only four commenters (see 2109010056) backed AICC, AT&T said. None “offers evidence relevant to AICC’s arguments for the alarm industry, such as the sufficiency of the repeated notices AT&T gave to the alarm companies of its 3G sunset between 2016 and February 2019 (its official 3G sunset announcement), the extent to which those companies have had access to customers’ homes despite the COVID-19 pandemic, and the extent to which alarm companies have been able to obtain the chipsets necessary to upgrade their particular alarm monitoring systems,” AT&T said. AICC said comments show sunset risks outweigh benefits. The record shows “millions of safety related devices depend on the 3G network, besides alarm systems: ‘Ankle bracelet’ monitors to track violent offenders; vehicle collision avoidance systems; vehicle roadside assistance systems; elevator emergency phones; and emergency radios for ‘lone worker’ situations,” the group said. The pandemic “caused significant delays in being able to replace 3G alarm signaling radios in customer premises for more than one year, and the worldwide microchip shortage has compounded the problem considerably,” AICC said. The FCC has “clear legal authority in this matter and the compelling public interest reasons” to consider the petition, said Access Humboldt, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, Center for Rural Strategies, Open Technology Institute and Public Knowledge. “There are millions of people affected by the looming shutdown of services besides alarm systems and those services are unquestionably subject to the FCC’s [Communications Act] Title II authority,” the groups said: “Even if AT&T were right about the statutory basis for its services to the alarm industry, that does not deprive the FCC of the ability to consider the public interest harms that would result from the shutdown.”