By Jeff Baumgartner; Light Reading ~ Mar 23, 2020

Despite some “signs of stress,” AT&T’s mobile and wireline networks have handled the load so far as data usage continues to rise during the COVID-19 pandemic, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said Sunday on CNN, the news network now owned by AT&T’s WarnerMedia.

In an interview with CNN’s Brian Stelter on “Reliable Sources,” the exec noted that traffic volume on AT&T’s mobile network is up 40% while Wi-Fi calling volume has surged about 100%.

“The network is performing quite well, to be quite honest with you,” Stephenson said, adding that traffic patterns are changing as millions stay at home while others require more mobile capacity as they are on the go. “It’s doing very well … The infrastructure is allowing the communication to continue.”

As for those pockets of stress, AT&T has been augmenting the network where needed, he added.

Stephenson also referenced the elevated role of FirstNet, AT&T’s govern

By Mike Dano; Light Reading ~ Mar 18, 2020

AT&T joined T-Mobile and Sprint Wednesday in announcing plans to close a large portion of its retail stores temporarily to stem the spread of COVID-19. AT&T said it would shutter 40% of its company-owned retail stores nationwide – a total of 2,200 stores – and would reduce the operating hours of stores that remain open.

Importantly, AT&T said that “we will ensure all retail employees get paid.”

On Monday, T-Mobile announced it would close 80% of its store locations, and on Tuesday Sprint announced it too would close 71% of its own retail stores, both corporate-owned and third-party owned. T-Mobile promised to maintain affected employees’ “target income” while Sprint confirmed to Light Reading that workers unable to relocate to an open store would continue to receive 100% of their “base pay.”

Verizon hasn’t announced widespread store closings – at least not yet – but it said it would reduce both store hours and also the number of employees at stores. The operator said it would pay employees “for any shifts they may miss due to these scheduling changes.”

Via News Wire Feed; Light Reading ~ Mar 16, 2020

DALLAS – Starting Friday, March 20, customers can go to att.com/v60thinq5G to order the new LG V60 ThinQTM 5G. At launch, when customers go online to switch to AT&T* or add a line and purchase the device on a qualifying installment plan they can get an LG V60 ThinQ 5G for FREE!1

AT&T is building 5G on America’s best network, giving customers the reliable coverage they need to stay connected, with more bandwidth and ultimately faster speeds. Today, our 5G network expanded into 20 new markets, including:

• Allentown, Pa.
• Brown County, Ind.
• Hancock County, Ga.
• Hancock County, Ohio
• Harrisburg, Pa.
• Huntsville, Ala.
• Kent County, Del.
• Lexington-Fayette, Ky.
• Otsego County, N.Y.
• Reading, Pa.
• Reno, Nev.
• Sandusky County, Ohio
• Santa Cruz, Calif.
• Springfield, Mo
• Storey County, Nev.
• Syracuse, N.Y.
• Topeka, Kan.
• Trenton, N.J.
• Tuscarawas County, Ohio
• Washington County, Ill.

That means our 5G is now available in a total of 100 markets across the U.S. covering more than 80 million people and growing. And, it comes at no extra cost for customers on AT&T Unlimited Extra and AT&T Unlimited Elite plans and businesses on Business Unlimited Performance, Business Unlimited Elite and Mobile Select Priority plans.2

The LG V60 ThinQ 5G is also FirstNet Ready™, which means first responders can use it to tap into the power of FirstNet® – America’s public safety communications platform. FirstNet Ready devices are tested and approved to operate with services using the FirstNet LTE network core. This gives public safety access to the critical capabilities that FirstNet enables, like the full power of AT&T’s LTE network, including Band 14 spectrum, which serves as a VIP lane for first responders.3

What You Can Expect on the LG V60 ThinQ 5G:

By “Amal S”; Reuters ~ Mar 13, 2020

(Reuters) – U.S. carrier AT&T Inc (T.N) on Friday asked its employees to work from home amid rising fears of the coronavirus, joining a list of tech majors working to curb the spread.

“Starting Monday and continuing until further notice, I’m asking that everybody who can get their job done from home … do so,” Chief Executive Randall Stephenson said in a message to employees.

“We will be taking additional safeguards and implementing new procedures and policies to help protect you from the virus.”

Earlier, tech giants including Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), Twitter Inc (TWTR.N), Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google, Amazon.com (AMZN.O) and Apple Inc (AAPL.O) had asked employees to work from home.

Reporting by Amal S in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Via News Wire Feed; Light Reading ~ Mar 09, 2020

BRIDGEWATER, N.J. – Synchronoss Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: SNCR), a global leader and innovator of cloud, messaging, digital and IoT products, today announced that it is powering AT&T Personal Cloud, a new service for AT&T Mobility wireless customers. The Synchronoss solution will integrate into a suite of selected AT&T services, using the cloud to vastly improve the subscriber’s overall experience. It will also give AT&T the ability to provide new value-added services to its wireless customers.

AT&T will offer its version of the Synchronoss Personal Cloud solution as a standalone value-added service that will integrate with the following AT&T cloud-based services:

• AT&T Mobile Transfer – The Synchronoss integration will give users of the AT&T Mobile Transfer app, a free service that enables the easy transfer of content from one device to another, the option to enroll in the AT&T Personal Cloud service. This will extend AT&T’s ability to support and protect subscriber content by ensuring that it is safely transferred and backed up.<br>
• AT&T Setup & Transfer (Out Of Box Experience) – Functionality provided by Synchronoss, which was previously announced in mid-2019, gives subscribers using AT&T’s onboarding experience the ability to simply self-select value-added products and services during the device setup process.

“The ability to offer a secure personal cloud capability has become increasingly critical to global operators,” said Lurie. “By deploying the Synchronoss Personal Cloud solution, AT&T is significantly improving the customer experience. Embedding cloud into its out-of-box device set-up experience, enhancing content transfer services, and providing easy access to much-needed cloud-based data backup puts AT&T in the driver’s seat when it comes to meeting customer needs, increasing customer engagement and driving new revenue.”

By Scott Moritz; BloombergQuint ~ Mar 07, 2020

(Bloomberg) — AT&T Inc. is cooperating with the U.S. Justice Department in its Google investigation, which is exploring whether the online search and advertising giant violated antitrust laws, according to a person familiar to the situation.

The discussions are part of a probe into Google’s digital advertising and search operations, and antitrust officials have been meeting with a range of parties, people with knowledge of the matter have said previously. That includes discussions with companies and organizations other than those that have voiced complaints about Google in the past, such as Oracle Corp., News Corp. and Yelp Inc.

Google controls much of the technology that online publishers and marketers use to serve ads across the internet. Media companies and rivals have complained that Google’s dominance hinders competition, and its business practices have brought scrutiny in both the U.S. and Europe.

By Iain Morris; Light Reading ~ Feb 25, 2020

Job cuts at AT&T and Verizon soared to their highest level in at least seven years in 2019, when the two US phone giants reduced their combined workforce by nearly 30,000 roles, or more than 7% of the total in 2018, according to publicly available data analyzed by Light Reading.

Quarterly figures published by the operators show that AT&T slashed 20,420 jobs, almost 8% of the total, while Verizon cut 9,500 roles, nearly 7% of its overall workforce at the end of 2018.

The information on jobs became available several weeks ago when both operators released earnings reports for 2019. Still, it now shows the US companies are pursuing an even more aggressive program of headcount reduction than their European counterparts, which published their own figures more recently.

Germany’s Deutsche Telekom last week revealed that about 5,000 jobs at the organization were cut last year, roughly 2% of its end-2018 workforce. Headcount at Spain’s Telefónica fell by 4,500, just less than 4% of its 2018 total.

By Brian Womack; Dallas Business Journal ~ Feb 24, 2020

AT&T Inc. managed something it hasn’t since 2014: An increase in spending on research and development.

The Dallas telecommunications and now media company increased in investment in R&D last year by about $80 million to $1.28 billion, an increase of about 7 percent, it said in its latest annual report filed with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. That followed a decline of more than 30 percent since the last time it rose annually.

“AT&T scientists and engineers conduct research in a variety of areas,” the company said. “The majority of the development activities are performed to create new services and to invent tools and systems to manage secure and reliable networks for us and our customers.”

The areas of research include IP networking, network design and architecture, network and cyber security, network operations support systems, satellite technology, video platform development and data analytics.

By Alex Wagner; PhoneDog ~  Feb 17, 2020

AT&T is starting the week with another 5G network expansion.

AT&T says its low-band 5G coverage is now available in another 13 markets. Those include New Haven, CT; Vallejo, CA; and Portland, OR.

Here’s the full list of new AT&T cities:

    Chattooga County, GA

    Hunterdon County, NJ

    Las Cruces, NM

    Long Branch, NJ

    New Brunswick, NJ

    New Haven, CT

    Ocean County, NJ

By Mike Dano; Light Reading ~ Feb 07, 2020

Should the US government acquire a controlling stake in Nokia or Ericsson to stem the threats posed by China’s Huawei in 5G? AT&T’s CEO doesn’t think so.

“I just don’t think it’s a good idea,” AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson told CNBC, noting that governments generally don’t have a good track record when it comes to investing in public and private companies.

AT&T’s top executive was responding to a suggestion floated this week by US Attorney General William Barr. Barr said the US — either directly or through a consortium of private American and allied companies — should purchase a controlling stake in either Nokia or Ericsson for access to secure 5G equipment. He said such a move could blunt the rise of China and Huawei in the space.

Shares of Ericsson and Nokia spiked on the comments, and one major Ericsson shareholder said the firm should be open to the action.