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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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(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