By Kelsey Kusterer Ziser; Light Reading ~ Mar 05, 2018

BARCELONA — MWC 2018 — AT&T’s Igal Elbaz spoke with Light Reading this week about the operator’s plans to deploy standards-based mobile 5G to a dozen cities this year, and what 5G will mean for AT&T’s new edge computing test zone.

AT&T announced plans last week to deliver commercial, mobile 5G to Atlanta, Dallas and Waco, Texas later this year as part of a rollout to 12 cities. Elbaz, senior vice president of Wireless Network Architecture and Design for AT&T Inc.

By Jessie Hellmann; The Hill ~ Mar 05, 2018

President Trump’s new health secretary issued a warning Monday to a room of hospital executives about soaring health care costs: change is coming, whether you like it or not.

Speaking at the Federation of American Hospitals convention in D.C., Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar laid out a series of actions the administration will take that are aimed at lowering health care costs, and warned that it wouldn’t be deterred by powerful special interests.

By Karen Bennett; CheatSheet ~ Mar 03, 2018

As the years tick by steadily toward retirement, we all feel a little more comfortable knowing Social Security will be there for us. Or will it? People often speculate about Social Security running out one day.

Will those of us without pensions be able to survive solely on the money we have saved

By Mari Silbey; Light Reading ~ Mar 02, 2018

BARCELONA — MWC 2018 — As much as AT&T wants to promote its own network services, it’s also loath to miss out on IoT opportunities outside its connectivity footprint. After all, why limit itself to revenue from AT&T network users when there’s a chance to make money off competitors’ customers as well?

“AT&T is not interested in creating fast lanes and slow lanes,” ISP claims.

By Jon Brodkin; Ars Technica ~ Feb 27, 2018

AT&T is talking up the benefits of paid prioritization schemes in preparation for the death of net neutrality rules while claiming that charging certain content providers for priority access won’t create “fast lanes and slow lanes.”

“[T]he issue of paid prioritization has always been hazy and theoretical,” AT&T Senior VP Bob Quinn wrote in a blog post today. But that’s about to change, because “business models for services that would require end-to-end management” have begun to come into focus, he wrote.

By The Editors, Bloomberg – Feb 27, 2018

President Donald Trump has complained that U.S. drug companies are “getting away with murder.” For once the hyperbole is forgivable: It suggests he takes the problem of drug costs seriously and might be willing to do something about it. Unfortunately, his administration’s efforts up to now suggest the opposite.

From News Wire Feed; Light Reading ~ Feb 26, 2018

BARCELONA – MWC – AT&T is rolling out a new cloud-based platform for businesses to manage Internet of Things (IoT) devices across multiple cellular and satellite networks, operators and regions.

Multi-Network Connect lets you manage devices over multiple access technologies like 2G1, 3G, 4G LTE, Low-Power Wide Area (LPWA) and satellite. Businesses can configure the platform to work across various operator networks.

By Meaghan Kilroy; Pensions & Investments ~ Feb 21, 2018

AT&T Inc., Dallas, expects to contribute $560 million to its pension plans in 2018, said the company’s 10-K filed Tuesday.
The contribution will be funded by cash distributions from its wireless business. The company also contributed $560 million to its defined benefit plans in 2017.

As of Dec. 31, the company had $45.46 billion in DB assets and $59.29 billion in projected benefit obligations for a funding ratio of 76.7%, up from 75.9% last year.

By Dan Jones; Light Reading ~ Feb 21, 2018

AT&T has revealed a few of the US cities in which it expects to launch mobile 5G services, towards the end of 2018.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) said late Tuesday night that it expects to launch commercial 5G in parts of Atlanta, Dallas and Waco, Texas, in late 2018 as part of a 12-market rollout. (See AT&T Joins 5G Marketing War, Promising ‘Mobile’ Launch in 2018.)

By Sarah O’Brien, CNBC; USA TODAY ~ Feb 18, 2018

Brokers now have a couple of new weapons to help them battle financial fraud against older Americans.

One rule, which takes effect Monday, allows brokers to put a temporary hold on a requested account withdrawal if financial exploitation is suspected.

“A lot of times, advisors haven’t had the ability to stop a suspicious transaction,” said Marve Ann Alaimo, a partner at the law firm Porter Wright Morris & Arthur in Naples, Florida.