Shareholders should feel better about the telecom’s generous dividend payout continuing despite economic headwinds.

By Will Healy; The Motley Fool ~ Apr 14, 2020

AT&T (NYSE:T) just received approval for a $5.5 billion loan. The telecom giant has seen its stock price fall roughly 23% since the start of the year as coronavirus-related fear led investors to sell. It dropped, in part, because the company suspended its stock buyback amid the sell-off. AT&T also announced a plan to lay off workers and scale back operations.

These decisions (along with the $5.5 billion capital infusion) increase the company’s flexibility in the current economic uncertainty created by the coronavirus pandemic. A significant question now for investors is how the additional cash will affect the telecom’s ability to maintain its dividend.

By Brittany A. Roston; SlashGear ~  Apr 13, 2020

AT&T has announced that it is providing doctors and nurses with free mobile service on its FirstNet network for first responders. The free period will last for three months and is available across the US, according to AT&T, which recently introduced a discounted $15/month plan for consumers hit by the economic downturn. The free period went live for new AT&T customers on April 13.

The First Responder Network Authority teamed with AT&T to built the network called FirstNet, which is reserved for first responders. Starting today, AT&T says that nurses and physicians can get three free months of service on FirstNet.

By Bevin Fletcher; FierceWireless ~ Apr 10, 2020

In another step to ensure communications connectivity amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the FCC on Friday helped AT&T rapidly deploy two new cell sites to provide wireless service at a COVID-19 medical facility under construction.

The agency’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau authorized AT&T’s request to expedite environmental review of two proposed wireless tower sites. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is building the medical site at the Wisconsin State Fair Park in Milwaukee to care for COVID-19 patients.

The two new tower sites are also part of AT&T’s FirstNet public safety network, which supports first responders across the country.

Options players are favoring calls today

By Laura McCandless; Schaeffer’s ~  Apr 07, 2020

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) announced this morning a $5.5 billion term-loan agreement to give themselves “financial flexibility” during the global pandemic, and reaffirmed its commitment to pay a dividend. In response, the shares of the mobile are up 4% at $30.62 in afternoon trading.

It’s been a slippery slope downward for AT&T during the past few months. The equity hit a nine-year low of $26.08 on March 23, with its 10-day moving average guiding the stock lower. While T has since toppled this trendline, it is now contending with pressure at the $31 region, and is down 22.1% in 2020.

Coming into today, six analysts considered T a “strong buy” or “buy,” while the remaining 10 called it a “hold” or worse. Meanwhile, the 12-month consensus target price of $36.7 is a 19.7% premium to current levels.

By Jeff Baumgartner; Light Reading ~ Apr 03, 2020

AT&T has stopped selling U-verse TV, its legacy IPTV service, as the company urges consumers to subscribe to AT&T TV, a big-bundle, streaming pay-TV service that runs on an AT&T-supplied Android TV box.

AT&T’s posted word of its decision, first spotted by TV Answer Man publisher and long-time TV industry watcher Phillip Swann, on its website: “To help our employees serve our existing customers, we’re no longer selling U-verse TV. Service for existing U-verse TV customers is not impacted.”

AT&T stopped taking online sales of U-verse TV earlier this year.

Light Reading asked AT&T to elaborate on the decision, as it is not clear if it is halting the sale of U-verse TV to help avoid in-home customer installs during the COVID-19 crisis or if the decision simply stems from the company’s desire to accelerate the reach and adoption of AT&T TV, a service that went nationwide in early March and uses a self-installation model.

However, AT&T web page does go out of its way to offer a comparison showing the advantages of AT&T TV over U-verse TV and talking up AT&T TV’s use of integrated apps, voice remote capabilities, a cloud DVR with unlimited simultaneous recordings and a larger VoD library.

By Nicholas Jasinski; Barron’s ~ Apr 03, 2020

How bad would the economy need to get for AT&T to consider cutting its dividend? The stock’s annual yield is 7.2% in a zero-interest-rate world, and the payout is no small part of many investors’ reason for owning the Dividend Aristocrat’s shares in the first place.

Phone companies tend to be the types of stable, high-cash-flow businesses that can support generous dividends through good times and bad. But years of diversification initiatives have transformed AT&T (ticker: T) into a much more cyclical and economically sensitive company. That promises greater potential growth in boom times, but also higher risk during busts.

And there is little remaining doubt that the coronavirus pandemic will cause a sharp recession in 2020. In a report on Friday, MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett ran through several recession scenarios, looking at how they would affect AT&T’s business and ability to maintain the payout.

Moffett’s conclusion wasn’t optimistic. He kept his Sell rating on the stock, and lowered his target for the share price to $23, the lowest on the Street, from $30.

The company declined to comment. AT&T shares were down 5% on Friday, to about $27.30, versus a 2% drop for the S&P 500.

By Mike Dano; Light Reading ~ Apr 02, 2020

AT&T said that its investments into software-defined networking (SDN) and network function virtualization (NFV) have been instrumental in the company’s efforts to keep pace with rising Internet traffic stemming from the new coronavirus.

“You don’t design a network for a pandemic. But it turns out that building your network on software and open hardware specifications can help make it ready for just about anything,” wrote AT&T networking chief Andre Fuetsch in a blog post on the company’s website.

Fuetsch explained that demand for the company’s Virtual Private Network (VPN) offering skyrocketed 700% during the past few weeks as millions of Americans began working from home. He said that AT&T’s network-based IP remote access VPN – AT&T Network-Based IP VPN Remote Access (ANIRA) – uses a cloud-based software platform and a plug-and-play white box gateway that doesn’t require a professional installer.

“AT&T was able to accommodate that demand surge without missing a beat. Just a few years ago, that would have been impossible. In fact, we’ve been adding more capacity to be ready for future needs,” Fuetsch wrote.

By Alex Wagner; PhoneDog ~  Mar 30, 2020

Following AT&T’s announcement last week that it was rolling out a new low-cost prepaid plan, the big blue carrier is now helping out some of its postpaid customers as well.

From April 2nd through May 13th, AT&T customers on an unlimited plan will automatically get an extra 15GB of mobile hotspot usage for each line. That means that with its current plans, AT&T Unlimited Extra will get 30GB of mobile hotspot data per line per month while Unlimited Elite customers will get 45GB.

AT&T also says that it’s waiving or crediting the activation, upgrade, and restocking fees for customers who buy a new device online. Free express shipping will be included so you can get your new device quickly.

Additionally, AT&T is offering 20% off wireless accessories when you buy through the carrier’s online store.

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.”