https://www.lightreading.com/services/atandt-starts-$6b-cost-cutting-program/d/d-id/759075
Trim 6 billion from its budget by 2023.
First area would focus on AT&T's retail and third-party distribution operation.
Second area involves cuts to AT&T's field operations
Cost-cutting effort would include a "rationalization" of the operator's wireline footprint with an eye toward "product rationalization" and "geographic and footprint rationalization."
The effort may include layoffs. Stankey didn't specifically mention that word, but instead said the operator would enact a "headcount rationalization," a term that could include layoffs as well as reductions by not hiring replacements for workers who retire or leave. That program, he said, would reduce the operator's labor expenses by 4%, or roughly $1.5 billion, by the end of 2020. He added that the reduction would target employees in AT&T's call centers, management structures and distribution strategy.