AT&T's Stephenson: Title II Puts Damper on Fiber Builds

AT&T chairman Randall Stephenson warned at a Wells Fargo Securities analyst conference Wednesday that its plans to deploy fiber to 100 cities are in hold mode as the company figures out how broadband is going to be regulated.

"So, you're doing multi-billion-dollar investments and you really have no clarity in terms of how those investments will be regulated," he said. "That can have no effect other than to cause one to pause."

He said AT&T would deliver on its promise in the DirecTV merger proposal to build out fiber to 2 million additional homes if that deal is approved, but beyond that the picture was cloudier.

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John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.