Public Knowledge Calls on FCC to Oversee 3G Sunset

Public Knowledge, Access Humboldt, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, the Center for Rural Strategies, and New America’s Open Technology Institute filed comments in response to the Federal Communications Commission’s Public Notice seeking comment on a petition for emergency relief filed by the Alarm Industry Communications Committee. The petition for emergency relief requests the FCC act to delay the planned shutdown of AT&T’s 3G wireless network in February 2022 because security, fire, and personal medical alert systems all rely upon it to function. Because of COVID-19, the alarm industry has not been able to upgrade these systems to function on modern wireless networks. Without intervention from the FCC, the shutdown of AT&T’s 3G network threatens to leave some unknown number of alarm systems inoperable. In addition, an unsupervised shutdown of 3G systems by major carriers nationwide puts the phone service of millions of Americans – many of them elderly or low-income – at risk.