AT&T Regrets Nothing, Ahead of LTE Expansion Schedule, Business Chief Says
AT&T has no regrets and “no second guesses” about its failed $39 billion T-Mobile deal, said John Stankey, CEO of AT&T Business Solutions. The carrier will now focus on a different strategy and evaluate its spectrum opportunities as it always does, he told investors Thursday. AT&T meanwhile is ahead of schedule in LTE deployment and expects to complete national deployment by 2013, he told the Citi conference in San Francisco.
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"We don’t have any second thoughts,” Stankey said of the foiled plan to buy T-Mobile. “We gave it our best shot,” he said. “It’s unfortunate we didn’t get this done.” The attempted deal still makes sense and would have helped AT&T improve its network and expand mobile broadband in the U.S., he said: “Now we have to go back to run a different set of plays,” and the company will continue to evaluate spectrum markets. There’s a role for regulators to step up to free up more spectrum, he said.
The company launched its LTE service in 11 more markets Thursday: the New York City metropolitan area; Austin, Texas; Chapel Hill and Raleigh, N.C.; In California Los Angeles, Oakland, San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose; Orlando, Fla.; and Phoenix, Stankey said. The addition makes AT&T’s LTE available in 26 markets. The company as of Dec. 31 had extended its LTE to markets of 74 million people, surpassing its previous target of 70 million, Stankey said.
Stankey expects network sourcing services, mobility applications and virtualized services to drive growth in AT&T’s business markets in 2012. The company’s 2012 investments will focus on LTE, business solutions (including network infrastructure), consumer wireline and U-Verse and broadband offerings, he said. He expects growth in international business markets, citing opportunities in Asia.
AT&T has largely completed its U-Verse buildout and passed more than 30 million homes at year’s end, Stankey said. The company is still trying to complete its buildout in a few places including San Francisco, he noted. The operator continued to work on getting permits to build in the city and is making progress, he said.