AT&T Co yesterday detailed its accelerated equipment write-downs, to be taken as a charge against its fourth quarter figures: the total is a whopping $6,700m for network analogue equipment and related charges, and the effect will be to reduce net profit by $3,900m, which means a loss for the year; by speeding up our digitisation programme, customers will continue to receive the best value, performance and service in the industry, the company said, noting that it would benefit shareholders by improving AT&T’s competitiveness and earnings potential; the charges include $5,000m on analogue circuit equipment, switches and transmission facilities, $600m on radio towers, test equipment, tools, furniture, office equipment and inventory, and $700m in costs to remove and dispose of analogue facilities by 1993 – and there’s a $400m reserve against estimated costs to redeploy or provide redundancy pay to about 10,000 network employees and up to 6,000 operator services employees.
