AT&T Boss Sees Room to Raise Prices

According to John Stankey, CEO of AT&T Inc, inflation could allow wireless and broadband companies to raise prices for some core services while continuing to reduce costs after withdrawing from the media business.

On Friday, the company completed a proposal to split the film-and-TV empire into a new publicly-traded company called Warner Bros Discovery. AT&T shareholders will acquire a 71% stake in the new company, led by Discovery Inc's David Zaslav.

AT&T is returning to its roots as the ground shifts beneath it. Inflation has increased all costs, from labour costs to router components, further increasing the pressure on profits. However, the average charges charged by US wireless operators for wireless services have not changed much. Meanwhile, AT&T has been attracting and retaining wireless customers for over a year, partly due to the aggressive promotion of new smartphones.

The Dallas-based company entered the entertainment sector in 2014 by agreeing to purchase DirecTV, a satellite broadcaster, for approximately $49 billion. This was followed by a bid of approximately $85 billion for Time Warner Inc. The media acquisition was completed in 2018 after the company won the federal antitrust proceedings.