AT&T Still Weighing Its Options on TV Incentive Auction, CEO Says
AT&T is still taking a wait-and-see approach on the TV incentive auction, CEO Randall Stephenson said during a call with analysts Wednesday, after the carrier released Q4 results (see 1601260066). “We'll see what the auction brings and then how everybody…
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participates, but I haven't been bashful in saying if there's an opportunity to get another 2 x 10” MHz of low-band spectrum “we would pursue it.” Unknowns remain, Stephenson said. “It's not yet to us really clear what the spectrum footprints are going to look like and whether you can piece together truly a ubiquitous 2 x 10 type footprint, which is really important to us to be bringing another band of spectrum into our operation.” Stephenson noted AT&T spent $18 billion last year in the AWS-3 auction and the 40 MHz of “fallow spectrum” in which it can deploy its TV Everywhere offering. Stephenson also stressed AT&T’s focus on connected cars. Some 10 million automobiles being manufactured by Ford will come equipped with AT&T connectivity between now and 2020, he said. AT&T is also looking at the massive used car market, he said. “I have a sports car, an old sports car, that I now have connected to the Internet and it's actually a fairly elegant solution,” Stephenson said.