SDxCentral Weekly Wrap for Sept. 13, 2019

Plus, AT&T in the crosshairs of investor anger, and Samsung taps Amdocs to virtualize 5G

AT&T looks to Tech Mahindra for 5G support; Elliott Management calls out AT&T foibles; and Samsung works with Amdocs on 5G virtualization.

Tech Mahindra Scores Multi-Year, $1B Deal With AT&T

AT&T's Debt Lands It in Crosshair of Activist Investor

Samsung Taps Amdocs to Combine 5G and Virtualization in ONAP

Full Weekly Wrap Transcript

Today is September 13, 2019, and this is the SDxCentral Weekly Wrap where we cover the week’s top stories on next-generation IT infrastructure.

AT&T signed a $1 billion, multi-year deal with Tech Mahindra to provide IT consultation and to assume management of some applications that support AT&T’s network.

The deal calls for the India-based consultant to optimize AT&T’s core operations and modernize internal network applications as part of its nationwide 5G network launch planned for next year.

This will boost the network’s time to market and reduce the cost of ownership by automating aspects of the network lifecycle.

For AT&T the deal is the latest in a string of recent agreements with outside vendors tied to its 5G network operations.

Those include recent cloud-based deals with IBM, Microsoft, and Dell Technologies.

The operator claims its 5G network is the first network born in the cloud, and the deals each represent an increasingly polished hybrid cloud strategy for the company.

Tech Mahindra has been pushing deeper into the telecom sector and expects momentum to continue as 5G deployments continue around the world.

AT&T is a long-standing customer of Tech Mahindra and this deal is reportedly the largest in the last 5 years for the IT firm.

AT&T Financial Operations Questioned

AT&T this week also found its operations in the crosshairs of an institutional investment house targeting what it called long-term underperformance and a series of strategic setbacks for the telecom giant.

Elliott Management, which owns $3.2 billion of AT&T’s common stock, released a letter citing strategic misfires that have ballooned AT&T’s debt holdings to $162 billion.

Those include its $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner, a $67 billion purchase of DirecTV, and its failed attempt to acquire smaller rival T-Mobile US.

The investment firm is pushing for a change in leadership, new board members, an outright freeze on merger-and-acquisition activity, and a thorough review of potential divestitures.

Those might include the DirecTV operations, AT&T’s Mexico wireless operations, pieces of its wireline footprint, and smaller assets such as its home security business, regional sports networks,