Telecom operator AT&T has revealed the focus areas of its capital expenditure (Capex) of nearly $22 billion earmarked for 2017.
AT&T will keep more than 40 percent of the two-year Capex of more than $40 billion, to expand and enhance its business solutions worldwide.
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How mobility spending picking up?
AT&T’s decision to keep aside more than 40 percent of Capex in business solutions reflects today’s IDC forecast on mobility spending that is expected to grow 2.6 percent to $1.57 trillion in 2017.
IDC says spending on mobile hardware, software, and services is expected to touch $1.67 trillion in 2020 – achieving a CAGR of 2.1 percent over the 2015-2020 forecast period.
Connectivity services will dominate mobility spending in 2017 followed by consumer and enterprise purchases of phones, tablets, and portable PCs.
Connectivity and hardware will deliver more than 95 percent of all mobility revenues in 2017 with roughly two thirds coming from the consumer market.
Enterprise purchases of mobility services, applications, application development platforms, and security will contribute most of the remaining revenues.
How AT&T is spending
AT&T will expand software-centric solutions that include AT&T NetBond, AT&T Network on Demand including AT&T FlexWare, and AT&T SD-WAN.
AT&T is making investment in building AT&T Threat Intellect to improve processes and tools, while equipping security experts with training. This effort will improve AT&T’s data-powered analytics and virtualized security capabilities.
AT&T will expand its multi-network IoT connectivity and professional services globally – making it even easier for businesses and developers to start their IoT projects.
Collaboration solutions, connectivity – wireless and wireline and Wi-Fi are some of the business offerings from AT&T.
AT&T has rolled out AT&T FlexWare to more than 150 countries and territories to help save costs by simplifying the process of buying and adding virtual network functions.
AT&T has expanded the AT&T NetBond ecosystem to more than 20 members and provided access to over 25 different cloud solutions.
AT&T has rolled out AT&T Software-defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) premises-based, over the top solution in 52 countries.
AT&T has launched AT&T Threat Intellect, a security foundation to provide visibility into the data patterns and threat activity across its network.
AT&T activated North America’s first LTE-M-enabled commercial site that will bring the Internet of Things (IoT) to more devices and markets.
“As an integrated service provider, we have a responsibility to deliver the future first for millions of business customers around the world,” said Thaddeus Arroyo, chief executive officer, AT&T Business Solutions & International.
AT&T’s business customers include nearly all the Fortune 1000 companies, more than 60 percent of FTSE 100 companies, 90 percent of the CAC 40 companies, over 85 percent of the DAX 30 companies and over 60 percent of the Nikkei 225 companies.
