CenturyLink Discontinuance Application Sparks Concerns About Wireless Dangers
A CenturyLink telecom service discontinuance request is drawing concerns about the dangers, availability, cost and service quality of wireless alternatives to wireline service. The FCC Wireline Bureau recently solicited input on CenturyLink's application to discontinue "QCC Frame Relay Service and…
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QCC Asynchronous Transfer Mode [ATM] Service" nationally starting as early as Dec. 16, with existing customers to have some temporary rights to grandfathered service (see 1611160025). Comments due at the FCC Wednesday started to come in last week and continued to be posted Monday in docket 16-383. "We absolutely protest the defunding or destruction of our landlines," said Felicia Trujillo, who said she represented 97 healthcare professionals in Santa Fe, New Mexico, concerned about the health dangers of cellphones and cell towers. Cellphones are tied to elevated cancer rates in young people -- “the cellphone generation” -- and wireless service is less reliable in emergencies, she said. Kevin Mottus, who said he belonged to the California Brain Tumor Association, was the most prolific opponent of the CenturyLink application, attaching numerous reports about wireless radio-frequency emission risks to a letter (see here, for example). CenturyLink didn't comment. Mottus also submitted his filings in four other dockets on discontinuance requests of rural telcos (16-380, 16-381, 16-382 and 16-384).