An AT&T kiosk at Northshore Mall beyond in Peabody, Mass. (AP Photo/Lisa Poole, file)
Associated Press | AT&T Inc. said Tuesday it would invest
$1 billion to upgrade its business network, services and products for
large companies worldwide as well as for small U.S. firms, a sweeping
enhancement of its systems as network traffic in global economies
migrate from voice to video and data.
The investment brings to more than $4 billion the total that AT&T
has spent to upgrade its systems and services for over 3.5 million
businesses since 2006.
The changes range from increasing U.S. broadband speeds to 24 times the slowest DSL speeds available over phone company copper wires to laying additional undersea cables to boost data flow capacity to Europe, Asia and elsewhere.
AT&T also plans to boost its mobile broadband capabilities, such as investing more in Wi-Fi and the next generation broadband technology called Long Term Evolution, so executives on the go can have smoother, easier online access. It will increase support for wireless devices, such as netbooks and electronic readers, for businesses.
AT&T plans to delve more deeply into so-called cloud computing services as well, an increasingly popular option in which it would manage software applications and store data for corporate clients off-site.
The phone company, which is based in Dallas, said it plans to open another Internet data center in London and finish expanding centers in Ashburn, Virginia, and Piscataway, New Jersey.
Its shares were steady at $26.31 in premarket trading Tuesday after briefly touching $26.40 after the announcement.
That billion dollar investment could have been TWO billion dollars if it weren’t for all their new health care expenses.
“AT&T to invest $billion in network, $zero in customer service.”
Who cares? AT&T sucks.
Regular Guy,
That extra billion that you refer to would not have made a difference. AT&T did not loose $1 billion due to healthcare this year. They took a non-cash charge to their balance sheet. Big difference. Essentially, they have been receiving a tax free subsidy from the taxpayers to give prescription benefits to their retirees. This subsidy pays for 28% of these costs. Lets say a company pays $1 million a year on these costs. You and I gave them $280,000 to do this, they spend $720,000. At the end of the year, they then get a deduction for the full $1 million. That’s an amazing deal. I wish I could get a check for my healthcare costs from the government, that is not taxed, and then claim that same payment as a deduction. It’s a tax gift to big companies. Here is what changed. They still get a tax free subsidy, but they can no longer take a deduction for the 28% of costs that we the people gave them.
As for the $1 billion, accounting procedures require them to take the charge when the law is passed. They actually won’t loose the deduction for 2 years. The total charge comes from the estimated costs of this lost deduction plus expected inflation for the next 30 years.
Bu how will they pay their CEO???
AT&T has been advertising the new UVERSE offer for the past year in Chicago, but the service is still not available in most if not all parts of the city. I think they call that overhanging the market.