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March 13, 2019
AT&T CFO backs enterprise to lead 5G charge

AT&T CFO John Stephens (pictured) pinned the operator’s 5G hopes on enterprise, after revealing its consumer handset upgrade rate continued to slow in the first weeks of 2019.

Speaking at an investor conference, Stephens predicted enterprise customers will deliver the first significant spike in 5G revenue as businesses seek efficiencies offered by next generation use cases.

“We are convinced that business will lead in the innovation around 5G, whether it’s in automated factories, whether it’s in healthcare opportunities, whether it’s in a variety of IoT applications,” he said, adding the operator is engaged with its customer base to capitalise on those opportunities.

Though AT&T began rolling out its mobile 5G product to select consumer and business customers in December 2018, Stephens previously said the operator doesn’t expect the technology to generate material revenue in 2019.

AT&T’s focus on enterprise comes in the context of slowing handset upgrades in the consumer segment, which means it could take up to five years for all of the operator’s customers to transition to 5G phones.

AT&T Expects Enterprises To Drive 5G Revenue

We have already commented on the fact that 5G devices are going to be 30% to 40% higher on a like for like basis.

At MWC 2019, we had the first pricing announcements on 5G devices and surprise they are going to come at a premium.

In this article, AT&T is predicting that 5G cellular data usage will be high and when combined with the above is the reason why a stipend (a fixed monthly sum) has never been appropriate and will only accelerate in its inappropriateness.

We have already met with companies that have attempted stipends only to have requests for the stipend to be increased each and every year by a factor of anywhere from 500% to 1000% above the underlying rate of inflation.

mobilityView’s automated mileage book for the cell phone is the only answer that is fair, transparent and equitable for employees and employers.

AT&T CFO backs enterprise to lead 5G charge

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