ATT CEO on iPhone deal

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson is allegedly involved in discussions with Apple to extend the carrier's exclusive iPhone contract into 2011, unnamed sources told the Wall Street Journal. The current deal is said to expire at the end of the year, although both companies have been publicly quiet about the exact terms of any negotiations.

An Apple representative declined to provide additional details, instead claiming that "We have a great relationship with AT&T." Stephenson previously made a similar statement, noting that he and AT&T are "very happy" with the terms of the deal.

The executive is also focused on preparing the company to delve deeper into the overall wireless market. "We have 77 million wireless customers and 30 million consumer phone lines," he said in an interview. "Which customer base would you rather work from? We tend to come at this backwards."

Stephenson plans on revamping the company's marketing as landline business continues to decline. He plans to eliminate the requirement that customers subscribe to the home-phone service for discounts on TV or broadband services, as being a wireless customer "should be enough."

AT&T still faces challenges through the recession, as a recent announcement indicated that the workforce will be trimmed by 12,000 employees. Ongoing union negotiations revolve around health benefits for 90,000 of the landline workers.

Despite attempts to reduce capital spending by 15 percent in 2009, the carrier has spent $18.8 billion in acquisitions and allocated $1.3 billion just for iPhone discounts in the past two years since Stephenson has headed the company.

A number of analysts, such as Umesh Ramakrishnan of CTPartners, suggest that AT&T still needs to expand its international presence. "They haven't been as aggressive as they could be in this downturn looking at the overseas market," he said.

Although the current economic conditions remain uncertain, Stephenson is already preparing for the cycle to turn positive again. "You got to make sure that you're positioned when it cycles back out to be the leader in the industry, and to do that you have to be the leader in mobility, first and foremost," he concluded.

by MacNN Staff