General Order 133-E

General Order 133-E Background

Starting January 1, 2027, GO 133-E updates voice service quality rules to cover both fixed interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) alongside Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS), with standards now enforced at the individual line level. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has an obligation to modernize its service quality standards to improve service reliability. On March 17, 2022 the CPUC opened an Order Instituting Rulemaking (R.) 22-03-016 (Service Quality Proceeding) to evaluate whether the existing GO 133-D service quality standards meet the goals of the CPUC and remain relevant in the current regulatory environment and market needs. The Service Quality Proceeding was divided into two phases. Phase One focused on voice services across all technology types. Phase Two was originally intended to focus on the service quality of broadband services.

During Phase One of the Service Quality Proceeding [R.22-03-016], the CPUC collected over 3,500 public comments on the docket card, held public participation hearings, issued a Staff Report on service quality outage analysis, hosted a public workshop, and issued a Staff Proposal with proposed revisions to GO 133-D. For details of these milestone events, please refer to the following:

• Public comments primarily between November 2022 and April 2023.
• Public Participation Hearings held on December 6, 2022, December 8, 2022, April 18, 2023, and May 3, 2023.
• On April 17, 2023, the CPUC issued a Service Quality Outage Analysis prepared by Communications Division (CD) Staff.
• On September 7, 2023, the CPUC hosted a public workshop which included panelists from AT&T, Frontier, CTIA, Cal Broadband, Yurok Telecoms, Inyo County, Lake County, Southern California Tribal Chairman’s Association, Modoc County, and Hoopa Valley Public Utilities District. Following the workshop, Cal Advocates and Cal Broadband prepared a joint report.
• On June 27, 2024, the CPUC issued a Staff Proposal prepared by CD Staff, which contained the proposed revisions to GO 133-D.

On September 26, 2025, the CPUC issued Decision 25-09-031, which adopted GO 133-E to establish voice service quality standards for both POTS and fixed interconnected VoIP services. This decision effectively concluded Phase One of the Service Quality Proceeding [R.22-03-016]. GO 133-E is scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2027.

General Order 133-E Overview

GO 133-E incorporates the majority of the proposed revisions to GO 133-D highlighted in the Staff Proposal. Here are some of the key updates under GO 133-E:

• Extend the enforcement of service quality standards to include fixed interconnected VoIP services in addition to POTS.
• Assess outage and installation standards at the individual access line level rather than at the total company level.
• Include an automatic customer credit component in addition to a general fund fine.
• Eliminate the chronic failure status clause, which previously permitted carriers three consecutive months of noncompliance before penalties were assessed.
• Remove exemptions for Sundays and federal holidays in meeting service quality standards.
• Eliminate the option for investment in lieu of fines when carrier noncompliance occurs; all customer credits and fines are now applied immediately.
• Implement an updated Corrective Action Plan mechanism that requires substantial documented progress in improving service quality over a two-year period.

The revised minimum service quality standards are as follows: