AT&T Seeks FCC Approval to Discontinue 13 Legacy Services
December 22, 2016, 07:32:00 AM EDT By Zacks Equity Research, Zacks.com
U.S. telecom behemoth, AT&T Inc. T has sought permission from U.S. telecom regulator, Federal Communications Commission (FCC), to shut down the 13 legacy TDM (Time-division multiplexing) services of its wholly owned subsidiary - Southwestern Bell Telephone Company.
Southwestern Bell Telephone Company operates in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas and parts of Illinois. The service is expected to shut down effective Feb 28, 2017, subject to FCC approval.
The decision to terminate the services stems from lack of demand. Moreover, AT&T currently has no subscriptions for these services and has witnessed no demand for the same over the past two years.
The services to be shut down include Telegraph Bridging Four-Wire Capability, Voice-grade Active Telemetry and Alarm Bridging Split Band Capability. Telegraph Bridging Four-Wire Capability offers bridging functions on a telegraph grade circuit that connect three or more customer-designated building in a multipoint arrangement. Voice-grade Active Telemetry and Alarm Bridging Split Band Capability is a Telemetry and Alarm bridging network which divides the voice band into two portions, one for each direction of transmission.
Winding Up
Service discontinuation has become a growing trend in the wireline segment of the telecom industry. Telecom service providers are moving toward IP-based networks as an increasing number of enterprise customers are opting for IP-enabled cloud services.
As for AT&T, the telco has earlier requested the FCC for permission to discontinue a series of legacy services including collect calling, person-to-person calling, bill to third party, Busy Line Verification, Busy Line Interruption and International Directory Assistance in Jun 2016.
Read more: http://www.nasdaq.com/article/att-seeks-fcc-approval-to-discontinue-13-legacy-services-cm725015#ixzz4TaPD01MA