Most people working at ATT think the other guy will be hit or the other department will be hit. Sadly ATT is going to dump up to 80 % of the US employees to save costs. Verizon dumped Florida, Texas, California and only kept cell service. ATT is doing the same thing and people have their heads up a dark place if they think otherwise.
The sale to Frontier of the Connecticut was just the first. People say it was due to union giving ATT a hard time. Bull !!! ATT wanted to see how it worked. Verizon did the same thing in 2013 with 1.3 million voice line in the northeast. Sold all to Frontier. People say Frontier is a small startup. Bull!!! Frontier has been the phone business since 1946. They now have service in 27 states. Guess who is the dominate carrier in Texas. not ATT( SBC) yep Frontier. ATT applied to the state regulators to drop dominate carrier status in Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and a few others. They keep it very quiet and don't want the unions to object in hearings.
Getting to 20 to 40 years is something a new employee will never see.
It's about time we did the math -- How many households and small businesses have the potential of being shut off or abandoned by Verizon and AT&T? How many will be forced to use Verizon's /ATT Wireless services, even when they are not a substitute? How many copper lines are in service today in America today?
ATT passes 76 million homes with copper 1% with fiber. 6.6% ( 5.5 million ) have U-Verse service and ATT is losing customers bigtime.