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AT&T will slash $3 billion off its capital investments next year
AT&T is planning to spend just $20 billion on capital investment in 2020, down from $23 billion this year. [...] The company is on pace to exceed its 2019 goal as it averaged more than $6 billion per quarter in the first three quarters. But with a forecast of $20 billion across all of 2020, AT&T expects to spend about $5 billion per quarter on capital investments going forward. The company is under pressure from investors to control spending, in part because its TV business is tanking and because of AT&T's giant debt load stemming from the purchases of DirecTV and Time Warner.
[...] AT&T's capital spending will decline next year despite the company's plan to roll 5G mobile service out nationwide. AT&T already got much of the 5G spending out of the way by purchasing spectrum licenses, and AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson told investors that the company's "strong spectrum position will allow for lower capital intensity" over the next three years.
AT&T has also mostly stopped its fiber-to-the-home broadband construction even though large portions of its 21-state territory still have only copper-based DSL service. Fiber deployment isn't stopping completely, as Stephenson said that "5G requires us to continue deploying fiber." But AT&T customers who can't get modern broadband speeds or reliable wireline service in their homes would welcome more capital investment in their neighborhoods.
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AT&T Considers Getting Rid of DirecTV as TV Business Tanks, WSJ Reports
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 31 2019, @03:26AM
"AT&T already got much of the 5G spending out of the way by purchasing spectrum licenses"
Locking out the competition. Sweet.. No hurry to DO anything with that valuable asset now.
(Score: 1) by Sally_G on Thursday October 31 2019, @03:50AM (2 children)
This means they will be cutting my bills? /sarcasm
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 31 2019, @04:02AM
Cut your own bills by porting your number to a competitor that charges less. There's no shortage of MVNOs for you to choose from.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_mobile_virtual_network_operators [wikipedia.org]
Sort the table by Host Network if you want to stay on AT&T for signal coverage.
The alternative is to continue whining pathetically like you're doing now. Your choice.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday October 31 2019, @01:40PM
AT&T had two lines (multiple twisted copper pairs) running to my house when I bought it in 2012. I doubt the previous owner used their service, I never have. 6 months ago a branch fell from a neighbor's tree and cut those lines - boo hoo. I don't see them coming out to fix them, and I suspect they have similar "infrastructure savings" all around the country.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 31 2019, @04:13AM (2 children)
No, not AT&T, the America.
It's the same old story - it rots from the inside.
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 31 2019, @04:18AM
Americans have become lazy unskilled bums who would rather be fishing than working and who complain bitterly that they would have to pay taxes if they did work. In other words, America is a whole country of "Mighty" Buzzards.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 31 2019, @04:25AM
Verizon is the true heir of the original Bell Telephone Company. The newly named AT&T is formerly known as shitty Southwestern Bell.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by hwertz on Thursday October 31 2019, @06:18AM
AT&T's done this before... they'll cut spending, then, several years later it's like "How did our network get so bad?" When the iphone came out as an AT&T exclusive AT&T's network rather comprehensively crashed and burned. The news narrative was that "no carrier" could have handled this surge... but... a) The overseas carriers that got iphone exclusive handled it fine. b) Verizon Wireless at the time said they had a larger quarterly increase in data use than AT&T, from android phones and air cards mainly. In actuality, AT&T was just at the tail end of a previous cycle of reduced network investment.
That said, playing devil's advocate, I suppose it's possible all that modernization (the years-long conversion that AT&T, T-Mo, VZW, and I suppose Sprint have done from telecom-style internals to more IP and VOIP-style) has paid off and the equipment is far less expensive, spend less for the same amount of upgrades.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 31 2019, @07:12AM
So there will be a reduction in good paying blue collar jobs just in time for the election and to depress the economy and favor whoever challenges Trump.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Thursday October 31 2019, @09:09AM (2 children)
Can someone explain again how allowing more mergers and slashing network neutrality will surely increase investment in infrastructure?
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Thursday October 31 2019, @11:05AM
Well, it lets you pay hundreds of millions to the CEO's and board members. How can you expect them to produce their best work without an incentive?
No problem is insoluble, but at Ksp = 2.943×10−25 Mercury Sulphide comes close.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday October 31 2019, @01:49PM
Somehow, any company that carries the name AT&T also carries the inherently evil spirit that grew in the original monopoly. Let it die, it's entirely redundant these days.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DannyB on Thursday October 31 2019, @03:31PM (7 children)
Hey AT&T,
What if instead of fighting net neutrality, adding hidden fees, taking subsidies for things you don't do, and other bad things, what if you tried something different.
Stop interfering with customer's packets and traffic. No tracking. No deep packet inspection. No extra "services". DO NOT be a content provider AND a provider of the pipes the content flows over. Stop trying to create shady back room deals with, say, Netflix, holding Netflix-AT&T customers hostage so that those customers only get good Netflix connections if Netflix pays AT&T some extortion money.
How about this idea instead:
Just be big, dumb, pipes.
The biggest, dumbest pipes ever. Do this and do it well. Do it better than your competitors. Route traffic and nothing more. Manage congestion, etc. Just do it the very best.
Doing something honorably and well is a very time honored way of doing business and succeeding at it.
But I guess they don't teach that at MBA school.
The thing about landline phones is that they never get lost. No air tag necessary.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday October 31 2019, @07:24PM (6 children)
How does this maximize profit?
Why would we sell a simple, easy to understand, commodity service when we can complexify it up until it's as incomprehensible and un-comparable as a mattress specification. Once we've decoupled the service we provide from any market competition, we're free to adjust prices as we see fit. Lure customers in with $300 cash payment on signing of a contract - nevermind that the contract costs $2K over the coming 24 months for the same essential services the competitors are selling for $30 per month - we've decoupled ourselves from price comparisons. Our initial quoted monthly fee is the same as theirs, but over the course of the contract the variable rates and hidden fees (all clearly spelled out on pages 27 and later in 6 point and smaller font) will escalate to guarantee PROFIT, which, after all, is what business is all about.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday October 31 2019, @08:14PM (5 children)
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe things have changed.
Once upon a time, doing something the best, better than your competitors, was a way to get ahead. Win loyal customers. Those customers are your best and free salespeople.
The thing about landline phones is that they never get lost. No air tag necessary.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday October 31 2019, @11:21PM (4 children)
Wish in one hand, defecate in the other - see which fills up first...
I'm not sure that straight up competition for commodity services ever really existed except in our rose colored filtered memories. There have been some accidental competitive markets that worked quite well, and we tend to remember those, but forget the landscape of corruption that has always surrounded them.
Nobody sets out to run a business to obtain the lowest profits possible, and that's what open, simple, straightforward competition does.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday November 01 2019, @05:37PM (3 children)
The goal isn't the lowest profits possible.
The goal is the best service at a reasonable price. This tends to ensure long term profits.
The thing about landline phones is that they never get lost. No air tag necessary.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday November 01 2019, @07:59PM (2 children)
Whose goal? Consumers? I don't often see consumers setting rules or rates for services.
In fantasyland, sure. In the publicly traded world, growth is expected along with ROI, at least 5% CAGR between them and more if you can manage it. How do you get that growth? Well, this quarter marketing has come up with a new way to trick people into paying more for services that cost less to provide than the services they are currently using: AT&T charging more for touchtone vs rotary dialing comes to mind immediately, but there are millions of examples, every year.
Exceeding CAGR targets means big upswings in stock prices, which mean even bigger swings in instruments like the stock options that corporate leadership are, almost universally, compensated with. Once a CEO has achieved several consecutive years of exceeding expectations on the street, it's time for him to step down and let some other sucker take the fall for his hyperinflated fee structures and other schemes that netted him hundreds of millions in compensation. Maybe move to another company whose executives are hopeful he can repeat the process for them.
Mom and pop's hardware store down the street? sure... consistent quality and service at reasonable prices kept them in comfortable business for decades, at least until players like the Wal family came to town.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday November 01 2019, @08:17PM (1 child)
Public Utilities Commission setting rates to protect consumers so that levels of abuse are limited.
The thing about landline phones is that they never get lost. No air tag necessary.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Saturday November 02 2019, @12:04AM
You mean regulation - oh the horror, the pure unadulterated eeeeeeeevil. /s
Yeah, I actually liked flying when it was a regulated industry, but the prices were quite steep. The phone company surely did suck when it was regulated though, and as I recall they were charging us $20 per hour to transmit voice 30 miles or more.
What's really needed are regulators with the balls, and teeth, to get up in the regulated's business and force them to do the right thing, and in our society it seems that the so-called free market is a little better at that than publicly elected and/or politically appointed oversight. Neither is perfect, and I don't think we've found a magick cocktail of the two that works any better.
I like the notion of radical transparency, particularly for industries so essential to the public interest like communication, transportation, and government. Open the books, 100%, independently audited - deeply, and publish the findings timely - let the public see, and comment, and draw up their own rates plans that ensure a fair wage to workers who provide excellent service, and screw the shareholders - government buyout and takeover as soon as the independent management analysis knows what they are dealing with.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end