AT&T: $17B investment in mobile broadband this year

First, the good news for a struggling economy: AT&T says it plans to invest $17 billion to $18 billion in 2009 and add about 3,000 jobs to support increased customer demand in mobility, broadband and video. The multibillion-dollar investment is in line with its 2007 capital expenditures of $17.7 billion. The telecom giant noted, however, that it expects to reduce jobs in other areas (about 12,000, primarily in wireline) due to economic pressures and the ongoing shift by residential customers from wired voice services to wireless and broadband.