CEO Says Some Changes in How AT&T Does Business Will Be Permanent

AT&T CEO John Stankey stressed the importance of fiber to 5G and said parts of how the carrier does business will change long term due to the pandemic, at a Goldman Sachs virtual conference Tuesday. “When you have a great 5G network, you’re deploying a lot of fiber.” Stankey said the wireless industry is very competitive now, and has been for years. AT&T is holding up under the stress of the pandemic, he said. “The new normal for AT&T probably isn’t dramatically different than the new normal for everybody else,” he said. “COVID was kind of a shot of adrenaline,” he said: “It just accelerated things that were happening.” AT&T is becoming more of a virtual company, Stankey said. “We need people to be able to come in and collaborate and work and build relationships,” but “large parts of our business, they can be far more virtual than they were before,” he said.