*AT&T Wants Out of Maintaining Landlines in Illinois* Telecom giant AT&T is asking for Illinois’ permission to scrap requirements that the company maintain land-based phone lines, according to the* Rock River Times*.
A recent survey said only four percent of people in Illinois still rely solely on landlines. AT&T has to obtain consent from state legislatures before they can petition the FCC to be allowed to cut off the thousands of miles of land-based phone lines. Other states want this option as well, so the FCC has a vote planned this month by the U.S. Senate to accomplish this. In 2015, the Ohio state legislature voted to allow basic landline services to be withdrawn by the major telecom companies. (*see story above* ) “It’s taking a large investment that could be spent covering the vast majority of their customers for wireless or IP-based phone services,” Brent Skorup, Technology Fellow with the Mercatus Center told the *Rock River Times*.
