AT&T is pouring $250 billion into US telecom infrastructure to try to win in the AI age

• AT&T is committing $250 billion over five years to expand US network connectivity.
• The telecom giant aims to be the provider of choice for the AI age.
• AT&T is replacing its copper lines with a mix of fiber, 5G, and satellite links.

AT&T built much of the communication network that US households and businesses rely on every day, and now it's rebuilding it.

The 150-year-old company said Tuesday it is investing $250 billion to modernize its US telecom infrastructure over the next five years.

"The first phone call sparked an entirely new way for people and businesses to deepen connections and thrive," CEO John Stankey said in a statement. "Today, we carry the spirit of communication forward in bold new ways, powering connections for a new generation — more instantaneous, seamless, and limitless than ever before."

By comparison, competitor Verizon reported spending $17 billion on capital expenditures last year and projected $16.5 billion this year, a figure it says puts the company in the top 10 investors in data infrastructure, apart from those companies building data centers.

The world has come a long way in the century and a half since inventor and entrepreneur Alexander Graham Bell linked the first pair of telephones with a copper wire. Now, AT&T says voice calls account for only a small fraction of the traffic on its network, which is now dominated by text and data.

And the demands are only going up from here in the age of AI.

"We expect to increase the need for dense fiber networks and more symmetrical connectivity into and out of homes, businesses, and devices," Stankey said during AT&T's earnings call in January.

Unlike video streaming, which mostly requires one-way data downloads, cloud-based AI computing and remote work require a much more robust upload connection.

AT&T's answer to that growing demand is to decommission its sprawling web of copper wires and replace them with a combination of fiber-optic cable, 5G wireless, and satellite links. The Dallas-based company says this approach will bring faster speeds to users in urban, suburban, and rural markets.

It is also strengthening its responders network for public safety and resilience, called FirstNet.

Stankey has also credited President Donald Trump's favorable tax and regulatory policies for facilitating the upgrades now, including depreciation provisions of the One Big, Beautiful Bill.

"Current Federal telecommunications policy is as strong as I've seen in my career, making our commitment to invest possible," he said in Tuesday's statement.