Last week I attended the AT&T Industry Analyst Summit. Wireless is going to play an increasingly large and important role at the company going forward, but the story is much bigger than that. The analyst community was filled in on everything AT&T at this meeting; where they came from, where they are today and where they are heading tomorrow. Let’s take a high-level look at some of what the briefing covered.
As a wireless analyst, I attend these analyst briefings for many companies, every year for more years than I can remember. Each is inspiring in its own way. This was as well, not only from AT&T’s perspective, but for the industry perspective.
AT&T transforming into a technology company
The annual AT&T event is a good place for them to pull the camera back and let us see the big picture for yesterday, today and tomorrow, for both AT&T as a company and the industries it competes in. Yes, I said industries. Plural.
Ten years ago AT&T may have been a single industry player as a telecom operator. Today it is a rapidly growing and changing technology company. It competes in many different industries, and it is transforming many different industries as well; putting increasing competitive pressure on existing players in each space. Like what Google and Facebook did over the last decade by modifying or creating new industry segments.
Example: AT&T is a force for change in the television space. The competitive pressure it is putting on yesterday’s leaders like Comcast, Charter and DISH Network is intense. It also brings a new and youthful drive to not only enter, but transform other industries. That’s what its mobile TV or wireless TV is all about. Delivering TV signal from its DirecTV or U-verse to wireless devices like smartphones or tablets, wirelessly over AT&T Mobility. This is creating an entirely new segment.
Project AirGig offers multigigabit wireless internet
What about tomorrow? AirGig is one of many really interesting ideas that AT&T is working on right now, and is deep into the experimental phase of this new technology. The carrier is partnering with the power industry and placing devices on top of power poles that act like tiny cell towers, but for ultra-fast, multigigabit speed internet connections. That means when this rolls out we will be able to get services like its GigaPower internet service wirelessly.
Today, homes and offices get ultra-fast internet through wires. Tomorrow, they will be able to connect wirelessly at ultra-fast speeds. This thinking is great for locations off the beaten trail like small towns and rural areas. This is also great for apartment dwellers or offices within a larger building; wireless gigabit speed internet is lower cost and more rapid to deploy.
This is still in the early stages of development, but has a very large promise. And this AirGig is just one idea that AT&T is bringing to the marketplace. There are other earthshaking and industry reinventing moves that will transform sectors and create new growth avenues going forward.
Software-defined network architecture
There are leaders and followers, and AT&T is a leader. Just like Google, AT&T throws ideas against the wall and whatever sticks, it builds. And AT&T has more ideas than you can imagine that it is working on today. Ideas which are real services today. Ideas which will become real services tomorrow. Transformative ideas. Growth ideas.
AT&T is transforming into a software company. The company calls it “software-defined network architecture.” What that means is instead of carrying an alarm clock when we travel, or a camera, or navigation system for the car we rent, today we have access to all of that and much more thanks to the smartphone and apps. What is that? Software!
Pull the camera back to see bigger picture of AT&T and industry
That’s why I find it important and valuable to attend these annual analyst briefings. It’s like a look up at the scoreboard of your favorite game. You get to see the progress to date, and the plan going forward.
This is something we have to be aware of going forward. AT&T is no longer just a phone company – that was yesterday. Today and going forward AT&T is a technology company with its hands in so many different segments it can make your head spin. And that’s great news for the company, the workers, the investors and the industry as a whole.
That means telemedicine, connected cars, connected homes and connected cities or smart cities and so much more.
Over time I will write more about what I learned at this annual analyst summit. But my take on this year’s event is this was a very interesting and very exciting meeting. Ideas and presentations on AT&T yesterday, today and tomorrow. They pulled the camera back so we could see the bigger picture – the changes coming to the company and the industry.
