“I don't expect that fiber will ever be the solution for all of the ILEC footprint,” said John Stankey, AT&T CEO, commenting on fixed wireless as a replacement. “We're not as robust in our point of view on what fixed broadband can do in urban and highly attractive suburban areas.”
“But what we do believe is that fixed wireless plays a role in other parts of our footprint,” he said, especially in rural areas. “That's a really nice replacement for some percentage of the data customers that are out there, and we'll continue to pursue that,” he added.
That more-cautious perspective on fixed wireless, compared to Verizon and T-Mobile, grows from the respective positioning each firm has in the market.
AT&T has the largest footprint of U.S. households among U.S. telcos, and therefore has the most to lose, and the least to gain, from new investments within the more-rural parts of its fixed network territory.
Verizon has a relatively small footprint of U.S. homes, and therefore has much more to gain from fixed wireless using its mobile network, out of region.
T-Mobile has zero market share in home broadband, and clearly has the most to gain, in terms of additional revenue and market share in that business.
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