AT&T has been forced to delay 500,000 of its FTTP (Fibre-to-the-Premises) builds because of an industry-wide fibre shortage.
Demand for fibre surged after a year that underscored the need for faster, more reliable connectivity. At the same time, the pandemic disrupted global supply chains, creating shortages and delays across the telecommunications sector.
Speaking at a virtual conference, AT&T senior executive and CFO Pascal Desroches explained:
“Through the second quarter, we hadn’t really experienced any impact from the supply-chain disruptions that are happening across the industry.
But, since the start of the third quarter, we are seeing dislocation across the board including in fibre supply.”
AT&T originally planned to complete FTTP builds to three million homes this year. Desroches said the company now expects to fall short of that goal, anticipating roughly 2.5 million homes completed.
Because of its scale and purchasing relationships, AT&T is better positioned than many competitors to secure available fibre.
“We’re the largest fibre purchaser in the country and we have prices that are the best and most competitive in the industry,” Desroches said.
He added: “We feel really good about the ability to secure fibre inventory at attractive price points and the ability to execute the buildout at scale, something that many others don’t have.”
AT&T expects to recover momentum on its FTTP rollout and remains confident it can meet its longer-term objective of passing 30 million customer locations by the end of 2025.
For 2021, AT&T projects gross capital investment of about $22 billion, capital expenditures near $17 billion, and cash content spend of approximately $19 billion across its business.
(Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash)
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