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John Stankey

CEO & Chairman, AT&T

Search every verified John Stankey interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. John Stankey, chairman and CEO of AT&T, has been active in public discussions about the company’s network strategy and workforce initiatives. During AT&T’s third-quarter 2026 earnings call, he described fiber-to-the-broadband as the most durable customer combination in the industry when paired with wireless service, and noted that the company’s internal investment targets assume a 40 percent penetration rate for fiber, with ambitions to exceed that level. In a separate appearance, he discussed the company’s $3 billion fiber agreement with Corning, framing it as part of a broader commitment to expand its fiber network to 60 million locations by 2030, and said that AI-driven demand for data is increasing the importance of fiber infrastructure, while predicting that phones will remain relevant for the near term. Stankey also participated in a fireside chat with AT&T employee Jared Ridley, where he highlighted the company’s efforts to support employee skill development and career advancement, including training programs and coaching opportunities. He encouraged employees to embrace change and new challenges, stating that the company invests in workers who are willing to learn and adapt to rapid technological shifts.

Recent appearances

Verified interview transcripts

Notable quotes

“For the near future phones will have an important role processing, I don't think that will go away. Other devices, wearables like glasses that become relevant and arguments, I do think that will occur. In many instances that will be additive to the amount of processing and data bandwidth necessary in addition to phones. It's good for the business and people who build fiber infrastructure to carry those bids and proce”

“We are moving into a physical world now where value is going back to chips, it's going to memory, it's going to infrastructure data centers, this is the infrastructure of communications and you are spot on what is going to happen like those other asset bases are improving, becoming more critical and more important in generating more value we will see the same on fiber-based communications.”

“Our commitment is we will continue to do this through 2030. We believe at that point we get to a competitive footprint that will be hard to catch or touch and that will distinguish this business and make us the best provider of the market and make us incredibly competitive and it takes some guts to do this.”

“One reason we've gone into fiber is we believe AI workloads will require more networking, the same amount of bandwidth upstream as downstream and broadband networks in the consumer space, more downstream than upstream. We invest in the best technology at the lowest marginal cost to carry work loads.”

“I think we're in a little bit of a dislocation right now and there's certainly a desire to raise capital to move to new opportunities in the AI space and, you know, I think there's been some rotation out of our stock as a result of that. But here's what I know, we've built this business for the future. To your point, we're building symmetrical networks that have as much upstream bandwidth as they have downstream band”

“It's clear that government leaders across all levels recognize the critical role advanced networks play in driving economic growth through flourishing interlo competition and initiatives like the federal government's speed program and pro-investment policies including in included in the one big beautiful bill. We're closer than ever to closing the digital divide.”

The summary and quote tags on this profile are produced with AI assistance from verified, first-person interview transcripts, then checked by our team to confirm the speaker's identity and the accuracy of every quote. See how we verify →