AT&T Eager to Make the Most of Time Warner Buy, CFO Says

AT&T has a smooth path ahead after an appellate court ruled Tuesday DOJ didn't prove its case for stopping the company’s buy of Time Warner (see 1902260017), said Chief Financial Officer John Stephens Wednesday at a Morgan Stanley conference. “It was a very good day yesterday,” Stephens said. “It was a ruling we expected to receive.” AT&T can now develop “a great asset,” he said: “We had made some commitments until the end of this month to hold it separately.” The wireless industry is competitive, but advertising spending isn’t out of hand, Stephens said. “We’re seeing promo activity in the industry, but it seems to be rather rational and it seems to be rather measured,” he said. With the FirstNet build, AT&T will increase its spectrum capacity by 50 percent by year-end, he said: “That gives us a significant advantage. … Our customers who have phones in their hands today are going to get those benefits.” AT&T sees lots of potential in the first responder market, Stephens said. First responders number about 3 million, but most use multiple devices so devices total closer to 10 million, he said. The buildout is about six months ahead of schedule and should hit 60 percent this year, he said: “I would hope that we would get even farther.” Verizon’s 5G buildout will likely continue over several years, with costs falling within its historic capital expenditure numbers, Chief Financial Officer Matt Ellis said at the same conference Tuesday. The move to 5G could prompt more customers to upgrade their devices, Ellis said. “We don’t see necessarily a massive shift in the upgrade trends.” Verizon expects to keep churn low, he said: “When we have the combination of network performance and the right offer in the marketplace, our churn continues to be good.” With other new generations of wireless, early devices tended to have problems, he said: “It’s either had a really low battery life or it looked like a brick.” The Samsung Galaxy S10 5GB Verizon announced last week (see 1902200065) “is a fully fledged, iconic” smartphone, he said.