Is this déjà-vu or just me? I believe AT&T mentioned this earlier in the year, but now we have a semi-ambiguous announcement from Ron Spears, CEO of ATT’s Business Development:
“Despite the continuing challenges of today’s economic environment, we continue to deliver on our commitment to provide companies with the network-centric capabilities and applications they need to enhance their operations…”
This might sound like the same song and dance, but they are backing this with spending cash on upgrading their network for small-business consumers. More specifically, updates to cloud-based video conferencing, managed services and specialized services for the more active verticals such as finance, retail, health-care and government sectors.
According to ‘the books’, this expenditure will bring the total amount spent on infrastructure small business enhancements to $4 billion since 2006.
So how do we fit into this? We really don’t –at least directly. I think the main take-away here is that AT&T is still pushing strong, has the capital to support and grow its services like AT&T Internet, and shows an interest in moving in-line with the ever expanding technology front. It also shows a side of this carrier that says it will remain competitive going into 2010 and beyond – and with Verizon biting at its heels on both the Digital TV market and mobile phone markets, services like U-verse and iPhone subscribers still require AT&T’s due diligence to stay ahead of the game.