By Mike Dano; Light Reading ~ Sep 25, 2020

Verizon and AT&T said they will settle a lawsuit alleging they overcharged state and local government customers in California and Nevada.

Under the terms of the agreement, as reported by the Associated Press, Verizon will pay $68 million and AT&T Mobility $48 million. Sprint and T-Mobile previously agreed to pay a combined $9.6 million.

At issue was a component in the operators’ contracts that said they would charge the lowest available cost and would tailor their rates based on customers’ usage patterns. The California Attorney General’s Office investigated the issue and decided not to sue. But the case was taken up by Jeffrey Smith, whose firm OnTheGo Wireless found that the operators were not providing the lowest possible prices. His firm will get about 40% of the settlement.

Others receiving money from the settlement will include the state of California, the California State University and University of California systems, Los Angeles County, and Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco and Riverside city and county governments.

By Mike Dano; Light Reading ~  Sep 22, 2020

AT&T is testing the standalone version of 5G now and plans to launch it later this year, according to Igal Elbaz, SVP of wireless and access technology for the operator. Speaking Tuesday at the Big 5G Event hosted by Light Reading, Elbaz said AT&T would work on “scaling” the technology throughout 2021.

AT&T has not previously disclosed its standalone 5G launch timeline. However, the operator’s plans line up almost exactly with those of Verizon, its main rival. Verizon disclosed its standalone 5G launch plans in July; the operator plans to move traffic to its new standalone 5G core sometime in the second half of 2020, and said it will fully commercialize the technology in 2021.

T-Mobile, for its part, commercially launched standalone 5G in August with vendors Cisco and Nokia. Importantly, subsequent tests of T-Mobile’s standalone 5G by Signals Research Group found difficulties obtaining a standalone 5G signal. According to T-Mobile engineers who spoke with SRG’s Mike Thelander, the company is specifically pushing its 5G phones off of SA mode and into “non standalone” (NSA) mode in areas where it already offers speedy and reliable 4G LTE connections. That way, customers’ speeds aren’t slowed by the new technology.

Importantly, Elbaz did not disclose AT&T’s standalone 5G vendors. Verizon also has not disclosed its standalone 5G vendors. However, Dish Network recently said Nokia would supply its forthcoming standalone 5G core.

By Mike Dano; Light Reading ~  Sep 18, 2020

AT&T has officially joined Verizon in complaining that T-Mobile is on its way to an unassailable position in 5G spectrum.

The two carriers are now urging the FCC to take a hard look at how much low- and midband spectrum T-Mobile owns, and to take action against the carrier if it gains too much spectrum.

AT&T and Verizon ostensibly are arguing that T-Mobile’s latest spectrum-leasing deal will push its overall spectrum holdings over the FCC’s “spectrum screen.” The agency’s decidedly arbitrary screen was set up in 2004; it’s designed to trigger an investigation by the FCC if an operator moves to purchase more than one-third of the total amount of spectrum available in a given market. However, the agency has rarely used the screen as a basis to prevent spectrum purchases.

At least, the spectrum screen is what AT&T and Verizon are using to prop up their concerns. What’s really going on is that none of these companies care about the spectrum screen. What AT&T and Verizon are really worried about is that T-Mobile is going to wreak havoc in the upcoming C-band spectrum auction, forcing AT&T and Verizon to spend billions of dollars in extra money to ensure they gain critical midband spectrum for 5G – and T-Mobile doesn’t.

The Associated Press ~ Sep 12, 2020

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The state of Mississippi is asking multinational telecommunications conglomerate AT&T provide records of the work it promised to do to expand broadband access in the state after the Public Service Commission gave the company almost $300 million, officials said.

Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley has signed an investigative subpoena for records from AT&T related to the company’s claim to have made internet service available to 133,000 locations in the state through the Connect America Fund, a federal program for expanded broadband in rural areas of the U.S.

The subpoena demands production of documents showing the number of actual subscribers to AT&T’s fixed wireless service within the 133,000 locations where the company claims to have provided service. It also requests the number of complaints filed with the company by customers who have taken service and the number of residents who applied for fixed wireless service based on AT&T’s claim that it was available and were later determined not to be in an area covered.

From John M. Mason; Seeking Alpha ~ Sep 03, 2020

Summary

• AT&T is one of those “legacy” firms that have not propelled themselves into the twenty-first century and now seem to be selling assets in order to hold on.

• AT&T management has been criticized in the past for lagging behind the world and now with the efforts to sell off assets it seems to be admitting this shortcoming.

• Furthermore, another worry is the substantial debt load that the company carries in a time when concerns are increasing about how such debt-laden firms are going to prosper.

I have not written about AT&T, Inc. (NYSE: T) for a long time…since October 30. 2019.

Via “News Wire Feed”; Light Reading ~  Sep 02, 2020

DULLES, Virginia – In a year when wireless network performance has proven more critical than ever as consumers spend more time living, working and communicating from home due to COVID-19, Global Wireless Solutions (GWS) announced today that AT&T topped GWS’ annual OneScore ranking for overall network performance, earning the “Nation’s Best Network” title for the third consecutive year. Verizon finished second followed by T-Mobile finishing third (Sprint was fourth).

GWS’ U.S. OneScore ranking is the most authoritative test of wireless network performance. Most third-party organizations look solely at drive data results or customer feedback, however, GWS’ scientific methodology incorporates both, combining wireless network drive data with research into what consumers value most from their network. As in previous years, GWS tested in all 50 states as well as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The drive test results were collected by driving one million miles in 501 markets across major metropolitan areas, smaller urban cities, and rural towns – covering a total population of over 308 million (94% of the U.S.).

While AT&T retained the highest OneScore ranking for its overall national wireless network performance, a key takeaway from this year’s report is that network infrastructure and technology investments across all carriers appear to be paying off: in GWS’ recent 2020 consumer survey, 84% of respondents said that their wireless carrier has met their communication needs in terms of wireless performance throughout this pandemic ‘always’ or ‘most of the time.’ In fact, since GWS started reporting on the best network three years ago, network upgrades have resulted in throughputs increasing by an average 62% across all carriers (AT&T’s increased over 100%, Verizon and Sprint over 50%, and T-Mobile 29%).

By Jeff Baumgartner; Light Reading ~  Sep 01, 2020

After AT&T spent years and billions of dollars trying to cobble together what it viewed as the future of video and TV, the company appears to be getting ready to dismantle several pieces of it.

Just days after rumors spread that AT&T was again exploring the sale of its struggling DirecTV satellite TV business, The Wall Street Journal reports that AT&T is now looking to unload Xandr, its advanced advertising unit.

AT&T introduced Xandr in September 2019 following the $1.6 billion acquisition of ad-tech company AppNexus. Xandr’s ambitions appeared to get even bigger last fall via the purchase of Clypd, a company that specializes in automated/programmatic advertising systems.

But word of AT&T’s desire to sell the ad-tech and analytics unit also comes roughly six months after Xandr CEO Brian Lesser unexpectedly resigned and AT&T later folded Xandr into WarnerMedia.

The telecom giant has lost billions this year. Learn why it’s still a worthwhile investment.

Robert Izquierdo; The Motley Fool ~ Aug 27, 2020

AT&T (NYSE:T) has historically served as a stable investment, but those days are now at risk. Once the coronavirus pandemic struck, AT&T’s revenue plunged.

Combine a pandemic with some concerning company performance metrics, and AT&T starts to look like a questionable investment. But that’s not all. AT&T faces an increased threat from rival T-Mobile, which strengthened its position in the competitive U.S. market through a merger with Sprint this year.

Even after AT&T weathers the pandemic’s impact, the company’s challenges mean it has an uphill battle ahead. Does it make sense to invest in this telecom icon?

By “Staff”; KALB ~ Aug 26, 2020

ALEXANDRIA, La. (KALB) – AT&T says they are ready to help customers affected by Hurricane Laura.

They are offering unlimited talk, text and data for customers in impacted areas through September 1. For details, click here.

Additionally, anyone who wants to help recovery efforts for those impacted by Hurricane Laura can text “LAURAMARCO” to 90999 to make a $10 donation to help people affected by Hurricane Laura. Your donation enables the Red Cross to prepare for, respond to and help people recover from these disasters.

Via Kaden Berrington; Stocks Register ~ Aug 11, 2020

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) traded at $30.58 at last check on Tuesday, Aug 11, making an upward move of 1.24% on its previous day’s price.

Looking at the stock we see that its previous close was $30.2 and the beta (5Y monthly) reads 0.66 with the day’s price range being $30.41 – 30.77. The company has a 12-month trailing PE ratio of 18.44. In terms of its 52-week price range, T has a high of $39.7 and a low of $26.08. The company’s stock has gained about 0.23% over that past 30 days.

AT&T has a market cap of $213.88 Billion and is expected to release its quarterly earnings report on October 22, 2020. With its Forward Dividend at 2.08 and a yield of 6.89%, the company’s investors could be anxious for the T stock to gain ahead of the earnings release. Estimates by analysts give the company expected earnings per share (EPS) of $0.77, with the EPS growth for the year declined at $3.2 for 2020 and $3.25 for next year. These figures represent -0.1% and at 0.02% growth in EPS for the two years respectively.