Economic recovery? Not so fast, say telecom leaders

Economic whiz kid Ben Bernanke be signaling that we have seen the worst of the current economic recession, but the two largest U.S. telcos (AT&T and Verizon) think otherwise. Speaking at yesterday's Goldman Sachs Communicopia Conference in New York, Verizon's CEO Ivan Seidenberg and AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said they think the telecom industry is not out of the woods yet.

"The fact is, the economy is still contracting," Seidenberg said, noting that growth in small businesses is "not as fast as you'd like," and that "very little job creation is occurring."

AT&T's Stephenson expressed a similar sentiment. Although he does anticipate AT&T's business customer base making major service purchases in the near term, he does not anticipate any declines either. "Our view right now is we're probably going to run at a flattish level for some time," he said.

For more:
- Barron's has this article

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