AT&T forecasts industry-wide investment

AT&T CEO John Stankey forecast a banner year for infrastructure investment in 2022 and told investors he expects the operator to complete planned asset sales despite protestations by some US politicians. Stankey predicted the wireless industry will invest heavily in infrastructure in 2022 due to the availability of C-Band spectrum and new air interfaces. “This is going to be a phenomenal year in terms of reinvestment back into infrastructure in the US on behalf of the industry in total”, Stankey projected. He added AT&T plans to increase investment, noting opportunities in building “more robust wireless networks” in rural areas to take advantage of government broadband subsidies. AT&T estimated 2021 capital expenditures at $17 billion: it previously stated the figure will rise to $24 billion after it completes a sale of WarnerMedia to Discovery. Stankey believes the combination will proceed according to plan, despite a recent call by politicians for close scrutiny. The AT&T chief also noted a recent move by Amazon Web Services to provide private 5G services to enterprises sounded like an appropriate solution for business customers which do not need to support mobile devices beyond their own sites, adding the service could likely outperform Wi-Fi.