AT&T CFO: Fiber is a three-for-one revenue opportunity

AT&T CFO John Stephens said that adding more fiber was about more than just passing additional homes. "I think about the fiber being part of my core transport network, and serving business customers and connecting to large business customers and small business customers, and then I think of it as an opportunity to connect the homes," he said. "So I have a three-for-one in this integrated carrier environment that really gives me a different opportunity than others. When I say three-for-one, that's three revenue opportunities, as well as a really efficient cost structure. That's how we think about our fiber. That's why we continue to invest in fiber and I expect we'll do more."  CEO John Stankey said that every trench foot of fiber that the company digs needed to support various access technologies, such as cell towers, millimeter wave sites, or a strip mall that needs wireless access for businesses to run credit card approvals on. Stephens said the Covid-19 pandemic has shifted connectivity demand from cities into suburban and rural areas. With more remote workers and online learning due to Covid-19, fiber is also shouldering the shift for more capacity demand from homes instead of office environments.