AT&T CEO Expects Good Things From Trump Administration
AT&T CEO John Stankey anticipates a pro-growth administration and FCC with the inauguration of Donald Trump in January. During a UBS financial conference Tuesday, Stankey noted a “pro-investment dynamic” in Trump’s first term. Cutting taxes “worked” and led AT&T to…
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make record investments in its network. Stankey said he knows Brendan Carr, tapped to lead the FCC next year, and expects him to be aggressive on making more spectrum available for carriers and on other issues important to AT&T. “He believes markets solve a lot of problems,” Stankey said of Carr: “Certainly, he's fairly public with his point of view.” AT&T plans accelerating its push to replace copper lines with updated technology, he said. “We've been working on filing in certain wire centers to show that we can move completely off of legacy technology and meet the needs of customers with newer technologies.” He added, “I'm comfortable we're moving into this at the right time.” The current FCC hasn’t opposed to the transition, “they've just been cautious,” Stankey said. Chris Sambar, a former AT&T executive, said in May the company spends $10 billion annually maintaining millions of miles of copper wires, of which only 5% remain in use (see 2405210059).