Taxpayers gave ATT literally hundreds of billions of dollars to build out last mile high speed internet. Actually, this goes back so far that SBC and even Pacific Bell were receiving this money here in California. Pacific Bell once promised all subscribers would be able to get ADSL by the year 2000!
ATT (and others, but ATT is the single largest beneficiary) handed this money out to shareholders and executives instead of delivering that access. These phone lines they are trying to shut down now are among those which they promised to deliver high speed internet access to, then never did.
If ATT were a person, we'd have thrown it in prison for decades.
The solution to the ATT problems here in California is the same as the solution to the PGE problem: Nationalization. Both corporations are frauds right on their faces; they take the money they're handed, but they don't meet any of their obligations. There is literally no way in which they are doing what they say they are doing. Why is fraud bad for me, but great for AT&T?