The nightmare is finally over. Ten years ago, AT&T started on a new path which it said would be an answer to its growth problems. That dream ultimately became a nightmare. Now, after 10 years of battle, AT&T is finally free. Going forward, can we expect innovation, growth and leadership from the company?

One decade ago, AT&T, and in fact the entire telecommunications industry, started on a strange and windy new path, which turned into a dead-end. Now, that adventure to nowhere finally just came to an end as AT&T completed the sale of its remaining 70% stake in DirecTV to TPG.

It is important to never forget this story so we don’t make the same mistakes again. It is important for everyone, the CEO, the company, the investors, workers, customers and the media..

Today, we are more used to all the chaos in the telecommunications market. A decade ago, not so much. Before this craziness started, everything was relatively calm and normal in wireless, telecom, pay TV, broadband and more.

Change in the telecom industry has ratchetted up to new heights during this past decade. The innovation of the internet, broadband, wireless, the iPhone and Android, pay TV, telephone, and so much more were changing the telecommunications industry year after year. But there was still growth mixed in with all that change.

AT&T and Verizon: Wrong growth path started with DirecTV

Then things changed. Wireless and telecom remained as important and in fact, more important than ever. That being said, traditional growth had slowed. That’s when the problem started, and this crazy new path began.

Bottom line, a public company needs to show growth in order to reward investors. Otherwise, investors leave for greener pastures. That’s why AT&T veered off the traditional trail. Verizon jumped on the bandwagon as well.

First, AT&T acquired DirecTV in 2015. Next, they acquired assets which would become WarnerMedia. That means CNN, Warner Bros. Studio and many more. Verizon, not wanting to lose out to the magic that AT&T seemed to be creating, acquired AOL and Yahoo! These two leaders wanted to reinvigorate for new growth.

In the middle of all the tumult, AT&T held an industry analyst briefing at Warner Bros Studio in Hollywood. We took tours of the studio, saw props like the Batmobile and saw where many big screen movies and hit television shows over generations all came from.

As amazing and even magical as this briefing was, to me it all just never fit together.

After years of struggle and change, the new CEO of AT&T started going back to its traditional story. John Stankey’ s focus has been to bring AT&T back to its roots. He has been doing a good job. AT&T is seeing growth once again. While the recovery is not as bold and quick as we had hoped, nevertheless, the company is heading in the right direction.

Verizon VZ also got a new CEO, Hans Vestberg. After spinning off AOL and Yahoo!, he has been focused on core growth once again.

In fact, even T-Mobile TMUS has a new CEO. Mike Sievert took the reins from John Legere. Legere finally put the company back on the growth track and Sievert kept its feet on the ground, while reaching for the stars ever since.

T-Mobile’s different growth path

At the time, no one really understood why traditional growth had slowed. Today, we understand more.

One, since new customers were hard to come by, the battle for market share comes from winning customers from one carrier to another. Two, there was just not that much difference between major wireless providers at that time. That means winning came from marketing better than the next guy.

Wireless went through something similar when the iPhone and Android started nearly 20 years ago. Growth had slowed under Blackberry with a few hundred apps. Apple and Google introduced iPhone and Android. Growth was initially slow.

So, the carriers gave wireless data away and it sparked usage. Today, we have millions of apps in the App Stores. Today, we use wireless data more than voice.

What will growth look like with 5G and AI?

That’s what we need to come up with once again. The next, big growth wave.

Now that things in the wireless and telecommunications industry are finally getting back to normal, and all three wireless carriers are back on track, we may finally be able to understand how to jump-start this industry for growth once again.

The wireless industry is still not growing as quickly as in the past. Yet, it is vital to every nation on earth in the future. Moving forward, the industry sees strong potential growth with AI and 5G. Now, we can see what these leaders are made of. New growth opportunities and new ideas. It all depends on each CEO whether the company will stay on the growth track or not.

So far, wireless and telecom are using AI and 5G separately. Next, they will start using them together and that could be the beginning of the next growth wave.

That being said, we still have not heard much about the progress they are making today and what we can expect tomorrow. This is important to know whether you are an investor, a worker or an executive and want to play on the winning team.

So, who will win the next chapter of the AI and 5G race? That’s the next question we need to be focused on.

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