AT&T aims to shave 3 months off fiber build cycle

CEO John Stankey wantsAT&T to condense its fiber build cycle so it can get its broadband products into the hands of consumers faster. His eagerness perhaps comes as no surprise given AT&T lost 20,000 broadband customers in Q4 2021, as healthy fiber net additions failed to offset DSL and non-fiber losses. Stankey said it currently takes about a year from the time AT&T begins engineering work in a new market to the time it is able to begin selling fiber products there. The goal, he added, is to cut that timeframe down substantially. Stankey also noted the company took a page from its wireless division and recently overhauled its fiber pricing with the introduction of its new 2-gig and 5-gig service tiers to make it simpler. The idea, he said, is to offer pricing which is “very straightforward for the consumer to understand over time, allows us to gain the right kind of momentum the market that’s sustainable, it drives up customer satisfaction, allows us to be consistent in our messaging that we carry out to the market and ensures every one of our employees knows the line.” As of the end of Q4, AT&T had around 6 million fiber subscribers and penetration of 37%, with the latter figure up from 34% in Q4 2020.