WASHINGTON, DC —AT&T chairman, chief executive officer, and president Randall L. Stephenson — the host of the 2009 HACR CEO Roundtable— unveiled his company’s investment plans in support of U.S. economic growth, environmental quality, and corporate social responsibility initiatives, in Washington DC earlier this week.
The telecommunications giant plans to spend $17-to- $18 billion to extend and enhance its wireless and wired broadband networks, which follows $38 billion dollars over the past two years — more than any other telecom company in the U.S. According to a study cited by AT&T, wireless broadband alone will add about $860 billion to U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) over the next decade. AT&T plans to add nearly 3,000 jobs in 2009 to handle its growth areas of wireless, broadband and video services.
AT&T’s alternative-fuel vehicle (AFV) investment of $565 million is the largest U.S. corporate commitment to purchase alternative fuel vehicles and involves two initiatives. 1) Over the next 5 years, AT&T will purchase about 8,000 vehicles that run on compressed natural gas (CNG) and will be built by the U.S. auto industry. The vehicles will decrease greenhouse gas emissions by about 25% compared to traditional gas vehicles. 2) Over the next 10 years 7,100 passenger vehicles will be replaced by AFVs, increasing AT&T’s alternative-fuel fleet to more than 15,000 vehicles by 2019. Among the first will be electric hybrids, which are 39% more fuel-efficient and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 29%. AT&T’s AFV fleet is expected to save 49 million gallons of gasoline and reduce carbon emissions by 211,000 metric tons — equivalent to removing the emissions from more than 38,600 traditional passenger vehicles annually.
The two new initiatives, will significantly lower AT&T’s fuel costs and over the next 10 years, reduce its consumption of traditional gasoline by nearly 69 million gallons. The Center for Automotive Research (CAR) estimates nearly 1,000 jobs will be created or saved each year for a period of five years.
AT&T will continue its commitment to the more than 1 million students who do not finish high school. In 2008, AT&T launched its $100 million initiative “Aspire” to address the “drop out” problem. It remains one of the largest corporate commitments ever to address high school success and workforce readiness.
“During these challenging economic times, it is even more important for companies to continue to invest and we commend AT&T for their leadership,” said HACR President & CEO Carlos F. Orta. “We look forward to discussing these and other important issues with Mr. Stephenson at the 2009 HACR CEO Roundtable.”
