Following a nationwide service outage that impacted some of its wireless customers last week, the CEO of AT&T Inc. issued a formal apology and announced plans to compensate affected individuals.
CEO John Stankey expressed regret in a letter to employees, acknowledging the challenges faced during the outage. He extended the company’s apology to all affected customers, including AT&T employees and their families.
Initial concerns over a potential cyber attack on AT&T
T,
+1.27%
were dispelled when the company confirmed that a software update had inadvertently caused the service disruption.
Although specific details regarding the extent of the outage were not provided, Stankey noted that approximately 25% of AT&T’s customers were unable to access the network from early morning until service was fully restored later in the day.
To address the inconvenience faced by affected consumer and small-business customers, AT&T will issue a $5 credit to their accounts over the next two billing cycles. Plans for compensating pre-paid, mid-market, and enterprise clients are currently being formulated.
Emphasizing the importance of offering compensation, Stankey assured that the financial impact of these measures would align with the company’s existing financial projections.
While AT&T shares have remained relatively stable throughout the year, showing no significant gains, they have experienced a 13% decline over the past 12 months. This differs from the S&P 500’s
SPX
performance, which has seen a 7% increase this year and a 28% rise over the past year.