Agency: Basic Telephone Service Shouldn't Be Abandoned

BALTIMORE (AP) -- Maryland Public Service Commission staff members say basic telephone service shouldn't be abandoned as the telecommunications industry prepares to switch phone service away from traditional copper landlines.

The Baltimore Sun reports the Federal Communications Commission issued an order in August that allows telecommunications companies to switch customers who have copper landlines with service problems to fiber-optic lines without the customer's permission, though they must notify the customer in advance.

The FCC also required that battery backups be used for fiber-optic customers in case of power outages.

However, in Baltimore and parts of western Maryland and the Eastern Shore, no fiber-optic option is available, and none is planned.

PSC spokeswoman Tori Leonard says the commission is evaluating how the FCC's new rules will affect Maryland.