Is AT&T Asking You To Fund A Network For AI Traffic?

Photo by PawinG on Pixabay AT&T (T) is running its largest year ever for fiber expansion, a plan for 8 million new locations, of which over 4 million were acquired from Lumen, and asking shareholders to keep funding it. It expects $23 billion to $24 billion of capital investment in 2026, and the roughly $18 billion of buybacks and dividends is essentially all the free cash flow left. Management used to justify the build product by product; with the customers, it was already winning. The lead now is one blended subscriber number and a network positioned for AI traffic. AT&T Once Sold The Build On What It Returned Two years ago the earnings calls gave the receipts separately.