AT&T Chief: Cricket Will Be Our Lower-Cost Brand

The wireless business is “going to get more competitive,” said AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference. Stephenson believes AT&T’s traditional “high-end” customer base of “early adopters” will remain loyal because they appreciate AT&T’s network quality. But where the company is exposed is at the price-sensitive end of the market, he said. “That’s one of the reasons we’re doing the Cricket deal,” Stephenson said. “We will compete very aggressively using that brand.” AT&T expects to close the deal to purchase Leap Wireless, operator of the Cricket brand, in the first quarter of next year, he noted.