CPUC Sets Schedule on AT&T Request to Relinquish ETC

The California Public Utilities Commission plans hearings on AT&T’s application to relinquish eligible telecom carrier designation, Commissioner John Reynolds said in a scoping memo Wednesday in docket A.23-03-002. The CPUC plans an evidentiary hearing in April; Reynolds directed an administrative law judge to set a specific date. The commission plans public participation hearings in Q4 2023 or Q1 2024, showed a schedule in the memo. Intervenor testimony is due Oct. 25 and AT&T rebuttal testimony is due Nov. 30, it said. The CPUC won’t consolidate the proceeding with AT&T’s separate request to shed carrier of last resort obligations (docket A.23-03-003), the memo said. "The legal standards, potential evidence, and analysis used in each proceeding will be different,” plus the parties in each matter aren’t the same, it said. However, the memo noted there will be coordination between the dockets and "their schedules are very related."