AT&T pleads with FCC to streamline legacy data, voice retirement processes

AT&T has asked the Federal Communications Commission to realign the way it regulates how service providers shut down Time-division multiplexing (TDM)-based data and retirement services with the hope of creating incentives for service providers to invest in next-gen services. 

Being an incumbent telecommunication company with a 100-year legacy of services, AT&T and its Tier 1 counterparts have begun to shed older services that have either little or no use in their territories. Specifically, AT&T has asked the FCC to consider streamlining the processes to discontinue data and legacy voice services. As more consumers and businesses drop legacy TDM-based voice services and adopt mobile and VoIP products, AT&T says that streamlining the section 214(a) process “will remove needless regulatory barriers to this ongoing, market-driven transition.”