TIA2011: AT&T CEO says 'chaos' main characteristic of next 5 years

DALLAS—The proper regulatory and tax policies need to be in place to drive the next five years of chaos in the wireless sector, AT&T Inc. CEO Randall Stephenson told the TIA 2011: Inside the Network audience this morning during a keynote speech at the Gaylord Hotel in Dallas. The show marks the Telecommunications Industry Association’s relaunch of its annual trade show.
Stephenson, speaking to about 750 people in the audience, said spectrum, or rather, the lack of it, forward, is the No. 1 concern for the operator. AT&T has been single-minded in its pursuit of mobilizing everything, he noted. The operator first mobilized voice, then email and finally Internet access. Mobile data has grown 8,000% at the operator since 2007, when it first launched Apple Inc.’s iPhone.
Today, however, the industry is on the cusp of something new as LTE networks and cloud-based services provide new opportunities for everyone in the industry. “The next five years will be characterized by chaos,” as innovation continues at a faster pace than ever. He said that AT&T estimates that from Jan. 1, 2015 to Feb. 15, 2015, AT&T expects to experience as much traffic on its network as it did in all of 2010.
AT&T has invested $75 billion to date on its network and expects to invest another $19 billion this year, Stephenson said. If its proposed merger with T-Mobile USA Inc. is approved, the operator plans to spend another $8 million integrating the two companies and build out an LTE network. Across the industry, Stephenson foresees a 10- to-15-year cycle of infrastructure investment if the proper regulatory and tax policies are in place.