AT&T® POTS Services

In a recent statement, the officials from AT&T^® indicated that they will continue their support for the traditional POTS voice lines in Illinois region regardless of the new state law. The telecom giant also added that several customers in Illinois heavily rely on POTS voice lines.

A few weeks ago, the Illinois Legislature made a voting that allowed the telecom company, AT&T^® to disconnect their 1.2 million POTS voice customers statewide. Reports indicate that this happened when the lawmakers overrode Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto and accepted the telecom modernization bill. However, AT&T^® will still need FCC’s acceptance if they want to alter the existing POTS network of the state.

In a statement, Paul La Schiazza, president of AT&T^® Illinois, said, “It’s important for our Illinois customers to know that traditional landline phone service from AT&T^® is not going away anytime soon.” In addition to that, the newly introduced Illinois law also contained a provision for increasing the 911 emergency service fees of all phone subscribers including wireless, landline, and online services.

La Schiazza said, “The new Illinois law helps plan for the eventual transition to only the technologies that customers overwhelmingly prefer today modern landline service and wireless service. While the timetable for that transition is undetermined at this time, it could take a number of years.”

Fastest Internet

The AT&T-supported legislation in Illinois, which would get rid of a requirement for the telecom company to offer plain old telephone service or landline voice service encountered opposition from the AARP and the Citizens Utility Board (CUB) back in the month of May. This in turn ignited a new debate on the legacy services transitions.

The Senate Bill 1381, which was passed with a voting of 56-2 in May, will eliminate the state requirement that AT&T^® will have to provide traditional phone service to customers in the state. Even though several customers have ditched their landlines to enjoy the convenience of a wireless, a major population of old users still depend on POTS voice service.

A spokesman for the CUB, an Illinois nonprofit watchdog group, Jim Chilsen, said that, “If AT&T^® succeeds in ending traditional landline phone service, we think that will hurt people particularly seniors and those with medical conditions who depend on a landline as their most reliable link to vital services.” Apparently, the move from AT&T^® to extend the POTS voice service will be highly greeted by Illinois customers.

Huge Broadband Investment

One of the leading internet providers in the country, AT&T^® recently promised that they would make massive broadband internet investment if President Donald Trump gives them tax breaks. This has been one of the major tricks of several internet service providers when they are in need of a tax break.

Several popular internet providers in the country had earlier promised that they would make future broadband investment deals in return for approval of an industry deal or for immediate tax breaks. In most cases, the government approves the conditions put forward by the companies because delivering high-speed internet service to rural areas is uneconomic. So, they feel that it is better to cut a deal with a private industry to accomplish it.

However, the reality is that most of the telecom companies have failed to keep up their promises and they often expand the deadline multiple times. This is the reason why several experts in the field of telecommunications are worried about AT&T’s recent promise of investing $22 billion in new infrastructure in exchange for immediate tax cuts.

The promise from AT&T^® came after a meeting that was held at the White House a few days ago. The president of Verizon^®, John Stratton lauded praised President Trump’s “focus on U.S. job creation and U.S. leadership in these industries,” whereas AT&T^® CEO Randall Stephenson said, “It’s been dizzying the pace that the regulatory playing field has been cleared and been made more clear for companies that invest like ours.”

Broadband Investment Deals

Stephenson added, “We’re on pace to invest around $22 billion in capital in the United States this year if we have some kind of tax reform, see that rate move down, we’ll consider stepping up our capital investment.” However, reports from several sources indicate that the Telco has made the same promise to deliver broadband to 100 percent of people in its regions for more than a decade. Additionally, reports also claim that AT&T^® has used this as a leverage in numerous acquisitions and mergers too.

On the other hand, Charter Communications^® was recently fined $13 million by the New York State, as the telecom giant failed to meet the conditions put forward by the state when they approved a merger. Charter^® had promised that they will be upgrading their internet speed to 100 Mbps and they will be deploying broadband to approximately 35,000 new homes.

DirecTV Now® Deal

One of the leading internet providers in the country, AT&T^®, has accepted the fact that the launch of their comparatively low-priced latest streaming service, DirecTV Now^® has cannibalized subscriptions to AT&T’s DirecTV^® satellite offering. However, the officials from AT&T^® do not seem too worried because they have just unveiled a new deal for DirecTV Now^® instead of focusing on DirecTV^®.

As per reports, the telecom company will be providing a Roku Premiere Box to their new streaming subscribers. The price of the Roku Premiere Box is approximately $70 but customers will have to pre-pay AT&T^® for two months of DirecTV Now^® subscription. The cable-like live service, DirecTV Now^® that offers customers access to over 60 popular channels for $35 per month become available to Roku users last month.

Reports indicate that AT&T^® is all set to increase their promotion for DirecTV Now^®. The telecom company recently launched their first national ad campaign for the streaming service and it featured Mark Wahlberg. The CFO of AT&T^®, John Stephens said that the telecom company had “deliberately pulled back on marketing to give the platform time to mature and improve”. He added that customers should “expect us to be more aggressive with DirecTV Now^® in the second half of the year, with additional features and content.”

It seems that the telecom company is embracing the appeal of DirecTV Now^® to attract potential cord cutters to their streaming service. The officials from the telecom company had targeted young people and the ones who did not have a subscription to a traditional satellite video or cable service last year.

Roku Premiere Box

AT&T^® Entertainment Group Chief Marketing Officer, Brad Bentley added that people are “looking to cut the cable cord may not always know the best place to start. We’re making it easy by eliminating up-front cost and providing a cost effective solution to stream the content they crave from their living room couches.”

The CEO of AT&T^®, Randall Stephenson had earlier indicated that the “churn was up significantly” for DirecTV^®, particularly among the ones who prefer not to buy the service as part of a bundle. He added that it included “some cannibalization” from DirecTV Now^® too, but promised that they are going to “make some adjustments” to the marketing of DirecTV^®. However, it seems that the telecom company has shifted their entire marketing focus to DirecTV Now^®.