UPDATE:AT&T has given us the following statement. “The FCC’s approval of our application is a significant step forward in our path to modernize our network. This allows us to replace traditional landline service for a small number of our customers with AT&T Phone – Advanced (AP-A). No customers will be left without voice or 911 service. We appreciate the FCC and Chairwoman Rosenworcel’s attentiveness to this process, recognition of changing customer needs, and eye toward the future of our industry. We look forward to working with Chairman-Designate Brendan Carr to find additional opportunities to accelerate modernizing the nation’s communications infrastructure.”
The original story starts below:
But AT&T CEO John Starkey is telling his rural customers affected by the move away from landlines not to worry. The CWA states that the executive has said that if President-elect Trump cuts corporate taxes as he promised, AT&T will invest more in corporate infrastructure. That is not a good look for the AT&T chief executive and the carrier since the company plans on returning $40 billion to stockholders regardless of what Trump does.
“We weren’t fooled then and we won’t be fooled now. Working people know who benefits from corporate tax cuts, and it’s not us. AT&T may have forgotten its historic role in providing high-quality, universal service but we have not. We will continue to fight for good union jobs and affordable, reliable, fiber telecommunications and internet service for all Americans, no matter where they live.-Communication Workers of America
The CWA points out that AT&T has proven itself to be untrustworthy in a situation like this. During Trump’s first term, AT&T supported the president’s corporate tax cuts. Instead of using the savings to improve service in rural America, the union says that AT&T lowered the amount it spent on capital investments, laid off tens of thousands of workers all while announcing a $30 billion stock buyback. See the similarities?
Earlier this month, AT&T announced that it will have ended landline service in nearly all states with a goal of dismantling all copper lines by 2029. AT&T says that the copper wire infrastructure used for landlines is antiquated and costly to operate. The company says that it can deliver better telecommunications service to customers using wireless and fiber broadband. Some consumer advocates say that senior citizens and others who can’t afford a cellular phone or figure out how to use one should be allowed to continue using a landline.
But that isn’t the real issue here. The question is whether AT&T can achieve more for its customers and employees by spending $40 billion to improve its network and other aspects of its service instead of spending $40 billion to prop up the stock which is probably in the portfolios of each and every AT&T executive.
