how will they eat & sleep? you can always rent the stuff right??
Selling off cell towers?? That's part of the mobility cash cow!
OK how about real estate?? ... sell it and rent it right back ...it just costs little bit more than when you owned it ..but it looks good on paper that we have no debt ... its just that you have no assets as well ...and everything will cost more since it is owned by someone else and they need a ROI...
WTF is the matter ???
Selling their people to ibm too. Just like cattle. Really makes you want to call me in the morning.
When they sell our trucks we walk some. The tools will get heavy though, ask Captain obvious.
physical towers were offloaded to American Tower etc years back in a cost cutting measure
They can sleep, because they have their golden parachutes–no skin off their backs!
@pma
According to Stevenson, IT cost reductions had stalled, and moving applications to the cloud would resume year over year cost reductions.
https://www.fiercetelecom.com/telecom/at-t-s-stephenson-microsoft-ibm-cloud-deals-will-drive-down-network-costs-open-new-revenue
I think it’s reasonable to assume T will sell and or abandon large portions of its landline business in the next 5-10 years as 5G is deployed. I do think that fiber to the business is here to stay along with fiber placed in support of the wireless network however the long term viability of copper or even fiber to the premise isn’t looking good.
As our network transforms into a fiber only business you’ll need less equipment space and even less employees to maintain our infrastructure. Simply put, technology will eliminate jobs.
I believe they plan on having a lot less employees over the next ten years so leasing back buildings sold in 2019/2020 might be a short term plan. Also the possibility they bring back telecommuting in a few years. If we sell off buildings with office space and equipment rooms it’s plausible we’d only lease back the equipment space saving on maintenance and property taxes. Cell towers aren’t as profitable to own as you might think with land leases, maintenance and insurance/liability cost built in. Also given the ever changing technology in metropolitan areas you might see more pole top antenna and rooftop placements. A shift in technology could leave tower owners holding the bag.
If you step back and look at the big picture, what is happening? T is selling off buildings that historically supported the landline business along with wireless support structures from the early 2000’s business model to pay off debt from purchasing entertainment content.
This is a clear shift in our business plan to less network build out, reduced footprint and a much more streamlined balance sheet allowing for even more aggressive moves in a few years.
Typically they sign contracts that include include issues like costs.
Did anyone sense the change in tone from being objective to "feel good" "Love" etc in the earning call? Microsoft & IBM cloud and IT stuff, to offload the big iron costs means less control on the costs