AT&T Says Feels Good About Its Financial Flexibility

(RTTNews) - AT&T Inc. (T) said it feels good about its financial flexibility, does not plan to issue any debt in the near-term and remains focused on its goal of achieving a net debt-to-adjusted EBITDA ratio in the 2.5x range by the end of 2023.

Pascal Desroches, senior executive vice president and chief financial officer, AT&T Inc., spoke at the Credit Suisse Annual Communications Conference where he provided an update to shareholders.

Desroches noted that the company has opportunities to address impacts of inflation with its ongoing cost savings initiative, which is expected to reach a run rate of $4+ billion by the end of this year.

According to Desroches, the company continues to grow customer relationships in its strategic focus areas of 5G and fiber. Desroches said the company continues to see healthy consumer demand even with continued expectations that 2022 postpaid wireless industry demand is unlikely to replicate 2021 levels.

Desroches remains comfortable that the company can deliver improving postpaid phone ARPU trends in 2022. He noted that postpaid phone ARPU could in fact edge up sequentially in the second quarter.

AT&T's fiber build progress continues with expectations to achieve 30+ million customer locations by 2025.