AT&T $T said over the weekend that it will give $5 back to its wireless customers impacted by the telecom’s widespread network outage last week.
It will likely amount to just a fraction of the telecom giant's quarterly sales
AT&T $T said over the weekend that it will give $5 back to its wireless customers impacted by the telecom’s widespread network outage last week.
About 1.5 million customers of the country’s largest wireless provider had filed outage reports as of Feb. 22, according to Bloomberg. AT&T did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday morning. But if AT&T only gives credits back to those 1.5 million customers, it would spend $7.5 million.
“Despite that impact to the business, I believe this approach is fully manageable while achieving the 2024 business objectives we have set for ourselves and our stated financial guidance,” AT&T CEO John Stankey in a letter Monday. That’s true: The cost calculated by Quartz would amount to just two-tenths of a percent of the company’s fourth quarter revenues.
Still, AT&T’s wireless service accounted for half of its total sales in 2023, according to a recent SEC filing. So any hit to those earnings is important, and additional costs could be incurred if customers switch providers due to negative perceptions about AT&T’s ability to provide reliable service.
Stankey acknowledged that the company “let down many of our customers, including many of you and your families,” adding, “For that, we apologize.”
$5: Credit that will be automatically applied to AT&T wireless customers impacted by last Thursday’s outage, excluding AT&T Business, AT&T Prepaid and Cricket accounts
1.5 million: Customers who filed outage reports last week
87 million: Number of AT&T subscribers
53%: Share of the company’s total revenue attributable to wireless customers
$32 billion: AT&T’s fourth quarter revenues
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