AT&T reported another strong quarter for its fiber subscriber base, as the carrier added more than 300,000 connections for Q4 2024.
The company also outlined its copper retirement plans during an earnings call, noting that it aims to retire the majority of its copper lines by 2029.
In total, AT&T added 307,000 fiber customers for the final quarter of last year, and more than one million in total for the whole year.
Like its rivals Verizon and T-Mobile, AT&T has pushed hard on its fiber strategy in the last couple of years, with CEO John Stankey outlining ambitions to reach more than 50 million fiber locations by 2029 last month.
Back then he said that around 45 million of those fiber passings would be from "organic deployments," while more than five million will be via its fiber JV, Gigapower, with investment company BlackRock.
At present, the company is nearing 29 million passings (28.9 million). The carrier currently serves more than eight million fiber customers.
Copper retirement plans
In order to get the best out of fiber, AT&T is pushing to move away from its legacy copper network, which was something that Stankey touched on this week.
“Within the next few weeks, we will make detailed filings with the FCC to stop selling legacy products at about 1,300 wire centers,” said Stankey.
In total, the carrier has about 4,600 wire centers, where its old copper phone lines connect.
"This was an important first step to establish a template that supports a deliberate and planned transition to a more capable and modern communications infrastructure," Stankey added.
"We look forward to working with the [Brendan] Carr FCC to accelerate and advance policies and actions that stimulate investment in the modernization of the US communications infrastructure."
His comments on the company's copper infrastructure follow AT&T's announcement last week that it had agreed to sell a portfolio of Central Offices (COs) in an $850 million sale-leaseback deal involving more than 70 properties across the US with Reign Capital.
The company is not the only carrier considering what to do with its copper-centric real estate in the wake of the move to fiber.
Ziply, spun out of Frontier in 2020, is converting around 200 of its old central offices into colocation data centers off the back of its own fiber network rollout. Frontier, with its own large footprint of COs, also offers colocation services from its legacy sites.
Strong end to 2024
AT&T posted revenue of $32.3 billion for the fourth quarter, an increase of one percent, while total revenue for the year hit $122.3bn.
During the quarter, the carrier added 482,000 post-paid customers in Q4, and 1.7 million in total for 2024.
As for net income, the figure hit $4.4bn for Q4, up significantly from $2.6bn the previous year.
“The strong results this quarter are the result of a four-plus-year period of hard work and consistent execution by our teams, which has positioned us well for a new era of growth,” said Stankey.
“We ended 2024 with strong momentum. Customers and shareholders can look forward to receiving even more value in 2025 as we expand the country's largest fiber network, modernize our wireless network, grow our business, and begin share repurchases in the second half of the year.”
