AT&T首席执行官：连接未来，拥抱人工智能并推动文化变革

大家好，欢迎来到In Good Company。

Hi everybody and welcome to In Good Company.

今天我们是从纽约现场直播。

And today we are live from New York.

我抵达后做的第一件事就是把手机SIM卡换成了AT&T的卡。

Now, the first thing I did when I arrived was to change my SIM card in my phone to an AT and T SIM card.

谢谢你，尼古拉斯。

Thank you for that, Nicolas.

所以能和整个公司AT&T的CEO一起在这里很有趣。

And so therefore it's fun to be here with the CEO of the whole company, AT and T.

很高兴和你在一起，

Good to be with you,

也谢谢你把自己的SIM卡换成AT&T

and thank you for changing your SIM card to an AT and T

SIM卡。

SIM card.

AT&T，美国电话电报公司，你知道的，由亚历山大·格拉汉姆·贝尔创立，可以追溯到1877年。

Now AT and T, American telephone and telegraph company, you know, founded by Alexander Graham Bell going back to, like, 1877.

这段历史相当悠久，对吧？

That's quite a history, right?

明年就要迎来150周年了，所以现在是个重要的

Just about on year one fifty next year, so it's Now a big

电信行业一直充满魅力和趣味，但当前最吸引你的是什么？

telecom industry has always been fascinating and interesting, but what's interesting for you in the industry right now?

我认为有两点非常重要。

I think there's two things that are really important.

在美国，由于《电信法案》后续影响——该法案旨在解除各类通信形式的管制——我们现在看到技术真正实现了这一目标。

In The United States, because of what came after the Telecom Act, which was an attempt to deregulate all the various forms of communication, we're now seeing technology actually achieve that.

无线、固网和卫星之间确实存在多模式竞争。

There's real intermodal competition between wireless and fixed and satellite.

因此，美国正在经历一场资产重组。

And as a result of that, there's a reordering of assets going on in The United States.

过去我们有些公司可能专注于某一技术分支，而现在关键在于能否构建一个让客户接入互联网的网络。

Where we used to have companies that focus maybe in one technology branch or another, it's now just about can you deliver a network that gets customers on the internet?

无论客户需要通过无线、固定连接还是卫星上网，你能否实现这一目标。

And can you do it whether they need to be on wireless or a fixed connection or through satellite.

这种资产重组相当有趣，我认为它将重新调整市场中的赢家和输家。

And that reordering of assets is pretty interesting because I think it's gonna readjust the winners and losers in the market.

但数据流量正在爆炸式增长，对吧？

But data traffic is exploding, right?

我们使用得越来越多。

We are using it more and more and more.

然而电信板块确实有些落后于七大科技巨头和大型科技股。

Yet the telecom sector is kind of certainly lagging the, you know, Meg-seven and the big tech stocks.

为什么会这样？

Why is that?

这显然是高利润产品的附加值所在。

Well, that's clearly the value add on the high margin products.

当企业能在某个市场占据主导地位时，往往能比'七巨头'在各自领域获得更高的利润率。

When somebody can carve out a dominant market position, they tend to drive better margins than the Magnificent Seven have managed to do that in each of their segments.

在我们这个行业，竞争相当激烈。

In our case, we're a pretty competitive industry.

因此，我们的增速通常只能与GDP持平或略高于GDP。

And as a result of that, we tend to grow at GDP or GDP a little bit plus.

而我们目前还未能实现那种高利润率的市场主导地位。

And our ability to kind of carve that same dominant position at large margins just hasn't arrived at this point.

话虽如此，这个行业下一个令人兴奋的机遇在于人工智能将推动数据和使用需求的新一轮增长周期。

Having said that, the next exciting part about the industry is the fact that AI is going to drive another growth cycle in data and usage demand.

我们认为这将成为推动业务持续增长的独特契机。

And we think that's going to be a unique opportunity for growth in our business moving forward.

如果能在当前变革周期中正确投资，将实现现金流稳定持续的改善

And it's going to allow for that consistent, steady improvement of cash flows if you invest correctly during this change cycle that's occurring

当下。

right now.

那么我们应该如何看待数据爆发式增长与基础设施提供商之间的关系？

So how should we look at the relationship between the explosive growth in data and the providers of the infrastructure?

嗯，我认为多年来人们一直在问的问题是：随着消费持续增长，你们能否实现盈利增长？

Well I think what you know for many years people were saying, are you going to be able to profitably grow as consumption continues to grow?

这种情况实际上已经持续了几十年。

And that's really been going on for decades.

我想说的是，过去几年的数据点表明，尽管消费者由于技术使我们业务运营更高效而对数据有着永不满足的需求，但通过我们在产品中增加价值和差异化定价的能力，我们正在推动业务的稳健回报。

And I would say that the data points over the last number of years have shown that despite the fact that consumers have an insatiable demand to use more and more data by the virtue of technology operating our business more effectively, the ability for us to add value into products and price differently, we are driving solid returns in our business.

我预计这种情况将持续下去，特别是随着我们看到更多客户从单一公司购买跨多网络服务的趋势，以及我们在家庭用户变现方面变得更加高效和有效的能力。

And I do expect that's going to continue moving forward, especially as we see more convergence of customers buying services from one company across multiple networks and your ability to be even more efficient and more effective at monetizing that household.

现在，如果我们回溯到2016年，当时你们收购了华纳媒体。

Now, if we go back some years to 2016, you bought WarnerMedia.

在那个阶段，人们认为需要将内容和分发渠道结合起来。

At that stage, one thought, okay, we need to combine content and distribution.

但后来人们意识到，这并非一个特别好的主意。

And then one realized that, you know, that wasn't a particularly good idea.

但回顾那段经历，从中有哪些经验教训呢？

But when you look back at that, what was the learnings from that in a way?

有好几点。

There's several.

其一，当你考虑改变传统商业模式并重新定位时，必须做好大量投入的准备才能实现转型。

One is I would tell you, when you think about changing a traditional business model and having to reposition it, you best be in a position to invest heavily to make that happen.

我认为其中一个教训是，媒体行业当时正经历自身商业模式所需的重新定位与重构。

And I think one of the learnings was media was going through its own repositioning and the reengineering that was necessary in the business model.

当然，正如我们刚才讨论的，电信行业也面临同样的情况。

And certainly, as we just discussed, telecommunications was seeing the same thing.

在当今竞争环境下，如果不积极投资以赢得某个领域，真的很难取得成功。

And in today's competitive environment, if you're not investing aggressively to kind of win in a space, it's really hard to be successful.

而且对任何上市公司的资产负债表而言，试图同时重塑两个行业的业务定位，所需的资金和耐心很可能超出公开市场的承受范围。

And on anybody's public balance sheet, trying to reposition in two industries at the same time probably requires more cash and more patience than what the public markets are willing to offer.

你们最终决定剥离内容业务。

You decided to divest the content business.

你是怎么想到这个决定的？

How did you come up with that?

这是必要的。

Necessary.

这是为了让我们能够真正专注于核心业务，也就是连接服务。

It was in order for us to be really good at our core business, which was connectivity.

考虑到我们刚才讨论的行业现状——再投资、业务转型、跨模式竞争——我们必须加大投资力度。

Given what was going on in the industry that we just discussed, reinvestment, repositioning, intermodal competition, we had to step up our investments.

我们必须提升现有业务水平。

We had to get better at what we were doing.

我认为当今客户的一个特点就是，他们对非优质产品的容忍度很低。

And I think today, one thing we know about customers is they have a low tolerance for less than a great product.

这正是互联网向我们所有人展示的事实。

And that's certainly something the internet has shown us all.

随着市场变得更加动态化且转换成本降低，客户自然会选择能提供最佳产品和最优交易的地方。

And as things have become much more dynamic and switching costs are lower, customers are going to go where they get the best product and the best deal.

我们必须对我们的业务进行再投资才能实现这一目标。

We had to reinvest in our business to make that happen.

现在客户的容忍度有多低？

How intolerant are customers now?

因为我自己就完全无法容忍任何情况下的失联。

Because exactly how intolerant I am if I don't get in touch within whatever.

客户现在能接受的延迟时间大概是多久？

What's kind of the time lag that customers are accepting now?

是的，我认为这取决于产品类型。

Yeah, think it depends on the product.

我认为幸运的是，我们的产品被视为人们生活中的必需品。

I think our product fortunately is viewed as a staple in somebody's life.

这对他们来说非常关键。

It's so critical to them.

而且坦率地说，他们每个月都投入了相当可观的费用。

And frankly, they invest a fair amount every month.

所以我们不是那种5美元的订阅服务。

So we're not the $5 subscription.

我们是那种需要客户慎重考虑是否建立长期关系的服务。

We are the one where they have to give some very careful thought to having a relationship.

因此，如果我们能向客户证明我们了解他们，并且绝大多数时候都能提供优质产品，他们或许会对我们的失误更宽容些。

So maybe they're a bit more tolerant of our missteps if we demonstrate to them that we understand who they are and we give them a good product the vast majority of the time.

但坦白说，过去这个行业存在大量转换惰性的情况已不复存在。

But frankly, used to be in this industry where there's a lot of switching inertia is not the case anymore.

你一开始就提到你来到镇上，把新SIM卡插入手机就接入了我们的网络。

You started this out by talking about the fact that you showed up in town and you popped a new SIM card in your phone and you were on our network.

如果你对明天我们的服务不满意，你大可以去换张其他运营商的SIM卡插上

And if you're upset about what happens tomorrow with our services, you may go get a SIM card from somebody else and pop it in

你的手机。

your phone.

那么当你使用电话拨打时，你能接受的等待时间是多久？

So when you have a telephone and you make a call, what is your acceptance?

你能接受等待多久才能接通对方？

Long do you accept it to take before you're connected to the other end?

嗯，就我而言，

Well, in my case,

我有

I have

非常高的标准，在一个

very high standards in a

很好，我

very Well, good what I

认为。

assume.

就是没有立即发生的情况。

It's what is not happening instantaneously.

我正在和某人通话。

I'm on the phone with somebody.

今天早上我在纽约一个偏远地区，当时我对所看到的一些网络吞吐量特性不太满意，于是我又给某人打了电话。

I was in a far part of New York this morning where I wasn't particularly happy with what I was seeing with some of my throughput characteristics, and I I was back on the phone with somebody.

嗯。

Mhmm.

你在AT&T工作已有四十年了。

Now you've been at AT and T for forty years.

你的第一部电话是什么样子的？

What was your first telephone?

我人生中的第一部电话吗？

I my very first telephone?

上大学时，我排了大约五个小时的队，就为了在宿舍里装一部公主电话。

When I went to college and I stood in line for about five hours to get a princess phone to put in my dorm room.

我的第一部无线电话是奥基车载设备，装在汽车后备箱里，放在车内的控制台上。

My first wireless phone was it was an Okie car mounted device that went in the trunk of the car and sat on the console of the car.

当它出现在我生活中时，我觉得这简直是前所未有的好东西。

And I thought that was the best thing since sliced bread when it showed up in my life.

嗯，确实如此，对吧？

Well, it was, right?

是的，确实如此。

Yeah, it was.

哇，真是段了不起的历程。

Well, what a journey.

你认为AT&T除了作为纯粹的通信公用事业外，还能成为别的什么吗？

Do you think AT and T would be anything else but a pure communication utility?

首先，我并不认为我们是一家公用事业公司。

Do I, first of I don't think about us as a utility.

我认为我们是一家网络公司。

I think about us as a networking company.

而且我觉得我们在网络方面做得相当精妙。

And I think we do some pretty sophisticated networking.

我们需要为许多相当复杂的客户（比如大型企业）定制我们的服务。

It has to customize what we do for a lot of fairly complex customers like large enterprises.

我坚信我们有机会在核心连接业务的基础上，通过结合网络上的增值服务，向左右两侧稍微拓展。

And I do believe that we have an opportunity to move a little bit right and left of our core connectivity business with a combination of value added services on top of those networks.

随着我们完成向软件驱动网络的转型，我们在网络上构建垂直领域和软件驱动产品的能力将大幅提升。

And as we complete our migration into a software driven network, our ability to begin building verticals and products that are software driven on top of our network gets a lot better.

这些可能包括：我们能否开始提供基于网络的软件驱动增强安全服务，让我们能在连接基础上横向拓展到安全领域。

And so those would be things like, can we begin to offer enhanced security services that are software driven on top of the network that allows us to move maybe laterally into security on top of connectivity.

考虑到AI驱动性能和工作负载时，我们有很多事情可以做，比如确保我们在不同网络架构中提供比特级别的服务质量，我认为这些都是可以带来收入的增量机会。

We have a lot of things when you think about AI driving performance or workload, there are things that we can do to ensure that we're delivering quality of service at a bit level across different network fabrics that I think will be incremental opportunities for revenue that we can bring in.

我们正开始与行业内的参与者合作，让我们能将安全和隐私服务引入市场，使父母能够管理他们与孩子的关系，了解孩子接触的内容并获得相关洞察。

We're starting to work with players in the industry that allow us to do things like bring security and privacy services into the market that allow parents to manage their relationship with their children and how their children see content and have insights to those things.

这些都是构建在核心网络基础之上的扩展服务。

Those are all extensions that are built on top of the core network.

我确实相信，基于这些举措，我们能够以更快的速度实现收入增长和业务拓展机会。

I do believe we can grow revenues and opportunities to grow the business a little bit faster as a result of that.

你们一直专注于北美市场，而要与那些全球布局更为多元化的竞争对手同台竞技。

You've stayed in North America whilst you compete with some folks who are more kind of diversified globally.

选择留在这里背后的考虑是什么？

What's the thinking behind staying here?

这是个非常好的问题。

That's a really good question.

我想说的是，在我职业生涯的某个阶段，确实有过拓展北美以外市场的想法，并为此做了大量工作。

I would tell you at one point in my career, there was a desire to move beyond North America and did a lot of work around that.

我认为那是在许多国家对外资持股开始表现出一定灵活性的时期。

And I think that was at a time where maybe, in many countries, there was some flexibility around foreign ownership starting to manifest itself.

但过去几年这种趋势已经逆转。

I would say the last couple of years that has reversed itself.

我看到更多的是巴尔干化现象，许多国家对于关键资产的外资所有权变得更为敏感。

I see more of a balkanization going on where many countries are becoming much more sensitive around foreign ownership of critical assets.

此外，如果你环顾全球电信行业的投资回报率，美国的表现远超其他地区。

In addition, if you just kind of go around the world and say, where are competitive returns achieved in telecommunications, The United States stands above every place else.

他们在电信政策和发展路径上做出了正确选择。

They've gotten policy and approached telecom right.

事实上很难找到另一个市场能让我说，在那个特定国家我能获得与美国相当的回报，何况我们在美国本土还有更多有机增长机会。

And it's really hard to find another market to go into to say, I can go and get as good a return in that particular country as I can in The United States, when in fact we have more organic growth opportunities in The US.

这就是为什么我们如此大力投资光纤、扩大业务版图，并开始在一些传统运营市场之外进行建设，因为我们认为这里能获得更好的回报。

That's why we're investing so heavily in fiber and building our footprint and starting to build outside of some of the traditional markets that we've operated in, because we think we can get better returns here.

嗯，这是个非常大的市场，对吧？

Well, it's a very big market, right?

你看欧洲，那里的竞争政策要求每个国家要有三家运营商，而欧洲有近30个国家。

So you look at Europe, you have, there's been a competition policy that you should have three players in each country, and you got, like, close to 30 countries.

所以运营商数量非常庞大。

So that's that's a lot of operators.

是的。

Yeah.

实际上在欧洲，具有规模且拥有三家运营商的国家非常少。

There's actually very few countries of scale in in Europe that have three players.

很多国家都是从四家运营商缩减到三家。

Many of them have four moving to three.

是的。

Yeah.

而且那里还有一些动态因素使得漫游服务的运作方式略有不同，存在国家和欧盟两层监管体系。

And you also have some dynamics there that are a little bit different on how roaming gets done and two layers of regulation between the country and the EU.

那么当你坐在这里——我们在纽约——望向欧洲时，你对欧洲电信市场有何看法？

So when you sit here, you know, we are in New York and you look to Europe, what your reflections when you look at the European telecom market?

坦白说，我认为这很可悲。

I think it's sad, candidly.

我认为这些发达经济体在许多情况下基本上使用的是第三世界的通信基础设施——挪威可能例外，但欧洲部分地区目前的服务水平明显落后于其他发达地区。

I think you have a developed set of economies that are basically on third world communications infrastructure in many instances, maybe not the case in Norway, but there are parts of Europe where services are clearly a step behind much of the rest of the developed world right now.

根据我与欧洲政策制定者的交流，我的感觉是他们意识到了这点，这也正是他们考虑转向三家企业架构的原因，以激励基础设施的更多投资。

My sense is in talking to policymakers in Europe, they get that and that's why there is this move to maybe go to a three player structure that incents more investment in infrastructure.

我相信如果他们迅速推进这一举措，实际上可以看到一个能显著改善欧洲服务水平的再投资周期。

And I believe if they move forward on that and they do it quickly, that you can fact see a reinvestment cycle that will improve services in Europe pretty significantly.

所以你认为情况不佳是因为技术供给的问题？

So when you say you think it's not so great, that's because of the technical offering?

还是因为运营商的盈利能力问题，或者

Or is it because of profitability of the players or

运营商无法获得资本回报，因此他们不愿在基础设施和网络上进行资本再投资。

Players aren't getting return on capital, therefore they don't want to reinvest in capital in their infrastructure and networks.

我们如何看出欧洲运营商落后于美国？

How do we see that European players are behind The US?

我只需比较客户在数据质量、吞吐量和服务先进性方面获得的体验，看看最先进的5G技术应用情况，以及这些网络的性能是否达到你在亚洲或美国所见的标准。

I would just go look at what customers get in terms of data quality, throughput and the advance of services, what's available in terms of state of the art five gs and is the performance of those networks what you would see in Asia or in The US.

而在我走访欧洲各地时，实际情况普遍并非如此。

And consistently as I move through Europe, that's not the case.

谈谈你们的光纤网络建设情况。

Tell me about your fiber build outs.

为什么这方面做得这么好？

Why is that so good?

你看，为什么这比搭建移动基站更好？

Look, there's Why is it better than putting up mobile towers?

谈到光纤网络建设时，我个人并不喜欢区分无线或有线。

Fiber, when you think about running networks, I don't like to think about wireless or fixed.

我的理念是：所有网络本质上都是光纤网络，只是末端采用了不同的接入技术。

My belief is everything's a fiber network with different access technology hanging on the end of it.

有时接入端是像你刚提到的基站塔。

Sometimes it's a cell tower, as you just said.

有时是墙上的网络接口，比如直接插入无线路由器的端口。

Sometimes it's a jack on the wall that something plugs directly into like a wireless router.

有时是直连超大规模数据中心的固定线路，但这一切都始于光纤。

Sometimes it's a hardwired connection into a hyperscalers environment, but it all starts with fiber.

特别在AI时代，光纤至关重要的原因在于：当前大多数高带宽网络（尤其是消费级）都是非对称架构——下行带宽远大于上行带宽。

And in particular, why fiber is so critical moving forward in the AI world is most high bandwidth networks today, especially for the consumer space have been built asymmetrical, more downstream bandwidth than upstream bandwidth.

AI将推动的一个变革是：需要更多上行流量来接入超算环境运行大语言模型，在AI世界处理数据信息将要求更大的上行带宽。

One of the things that AI is going to drive is more upstream traffic and the requirements to move into a hyperscalers environment to get to large language models, to do the processing of data and information in an AI world is going to require a lot more upstream bandwidth.

因此需要更对称的网络架构，而光纤天然具备对称特性。

So more symmetrical networks, fiber is symmetrical.

因此，你越快地让流量通过光纤传输，你不仅在下行方向拥有更多容量，上行方向也是如此，并且你更有能力管理这些比特的性能。

And so the faster you get a bit of traffic onto fiber, the more capacity you have not only down but up, and the more ability you have to manage the performance of that bit.

那么，当你考虑5G和6G时，你不认为它们与光纤构成竞争关系吗？

So when you look at five gs and six gs, you don't think that's a competition to fiber.

你认为它们只是接入你光纤的途径？

You think it's just a feed into your fiber?

是的，我不认为这是竞争。

Yeah, I don't think it's competition.

我认为这只是另一种接入技术，在某些情况下，5G和6G是广域网上让人接入高带宽网络的最佳方式。

I think it's just another access technology where in some cases five gs and six gs are the best way in a wide area network to get somebody on a high bandwidth network.

但有时根据性能需求，其他接入技术如WiFi实际上需要直接有线接入网络。

But there are times where other access technologies like WiFi are being actually hardwired into the network are necessary depending on the performance that's required.

你最近购买了一些频谱频率。

You bought some spectrum frequencies lately.

这将如何使你受益？

How is that going to benefit you?

这正好印证了我们刚才讨论的内容——如果你认为工作负载会增加，这些频谱将显著提升我们无线网络的吞吐量，从而支持更多应用的出现。

Well, it's going right to what we just talked about where if you believe workloads are going to increase, these are going to dramatically improve our throughput on our wireless network that will enable some of these applications to pop up.

特别是我们购买的部分频谱属于低频段，通过工程优化可以确保网络上行通道更加稳定可靠。

And in particular, some of the spectrum we bought was low band spectrum, that the way it can be engineered is effectively making sure there's a more robust upstream channel into the network.

频谱使用的两种技术TDD和FDD的区别在于，低频段的TDD频谱能更激进地优化上行链路。

So the difference between the two types of technology that's used on spectrum, TDD and FDD, the TDD spectrum that low band spectrum has allows you to engineer the upstream more aggressively.

我们认为这非常符合未来AI对移动网络的需求。

And we think that plays very well into what the future of AI is gonna require of mobile networks.

网络安全方面呢？

What about cyber?

网络安全对你们来说接近成为收入来源了吗？

Is cyber close to a revenue opportunity for you?

这是好消息还是坏消息？

Is it good or bad news?

这个问题让我夜不能寐。

It's the thing that keeps me up at night.

能让我夜不能寐的事情并不多。

There's not many things that keep me up at night.

因此我认为，在当前的地缘政治环境下构建安全网络确实是一大挑战。

So I think the notion of building secure networks right now and doing it in the geopolitical environment we're operating in is a real challenge.

我们在业务上投入了大量资金以确保提供安全的网络服务。

And we spend a significant amount of money within our business to make sure we offer secure networks.

话虽如此，我对运营大型公共网络的担忧与全球每位CEO和CIO都感同身受。

Having said that, my concerns about running a large public network are shared by every CEO and every CIO at every company around the globe.

正如我之前所说，我们有机会扩展基础连接服务，帮助客户更有效地管理他们的网络。

And so there is an opportunity for us, as I said earlier, to extend our basic connectivity services to help folks manage their networks more effectively.

由于我们持续进行网络监控、分析行为模式变化并全天候主动追踪恶意行为，我们可以将这种能力延伸到部分客户网络中。

Since we do things like monitoring our network, looking for patterns and changes in behavior and trying to hunt the bad guys actively day in and day out, we can extend that onto some of our customers networks.

这正是我们扩展基于软件的其他产品和服务的机会，我认为这为我们开辟了新的收入增长点。

And that's where us extending into other products and services that are software based, I think opens up an opportunity for us to grow new revenues as well.

所以我视其为双刃剑：既是成本（因为我们必须确保业务高效运营），但这也是所有企业都在承受的成本，而我们可以帮助他们更高效地应对，并可能从中获得回报。

So I see it as both, it's a cost because we've got to make sure we run our business effectively, but that cost is something that every business out there is enduring and we can help them do it more efficiently and probably get remunerated for us.

那么追捕坏人，这具体包括哪些工作？

So hunting the bad guys, what does that involve?

用什么手段来对付他们？

What are the weapons?

这取决于具体情况。

Depends on the day of the week.

而且，你知道，这是一场不太公平的较量，对吧？

And, you know, it's a little bit of an imbalanced fight, right?

我们是一家以盈利为目的的特殊企业，常常要与没有预算限制、无需汇报盈亏或担心资产负债表的民族国家行为体对抗。

We're a particular for profit company that's oftentimes fighting nation state actors that have no budget and they don't have a P and L they have to report on or a balance sheet they have to worry about.

他们会投入难以计数的资金和创造力，试图找出渗透和破坏的方法。

And they'll invest, you know, untold amounts of money and creativity to try to figure out how they infiltrate and beat that down.

因此这需要极大的协作，不仅要在公司内部合作，还要与政府机构、行业伙伴共享我们的洞察和知识。

So it requires tremendous amount of collaboration, requires collaboration not only within our company, but with government entities, our partners in the industry where we're sharing our insights and knowledge.

我认为只有通过这种协作，才能对抗那些愿意花费数百亿资金的国家行为体——因为破解你的防线符合他们的国家利益。

I think it's only through that collaboration that you can counter somebody who's going to spend literally billions and billions of dollars because it's in a nation state interest to figure out how to crack the code on compromising you.

如果大家不能以共同的方式相互协助，那将会非常困难。

And if you don't have everybody helping each other, that are aligned in a common way, then you're gonna have a very difficult time.

第二点是需要与那些处于研发前沿的机构紧密合作。

Second thing is it requires you to really work out with those that are on the leading edge on research and development.

尤其在美国，有些公司和实体非常擅长这类工作，与他们保持同步以了解未来趋势、即将到来的挑战、新的攻击向量类型，以及如何在这些方面保持领先地位，同样至关重要。

And there are, especially in The United States, some companies and some entities that are really, really good at this kind of thing and staying in tune with them to understand what's next, what's coming around the corner, what the next type of vectors of attack are going to be, and how do you think about getting ahead of the curve on those things is pretty critical as well.

卫星在这个竞争格局中扮演什么角色？

How do satellites fit into the competitive landscape here?

卫星在很大程度上，我认为首先，看到低地球轨道星座带来的变化将非常令人振奋。

Satellites for the most part, I think are, you know, they're first of all, it's gonna be amazingly encouraging to see that LEO Constellation is bringing.

我认为它们将改变我们生活中的许多方面。

I think they're going to change a lot of things in our lives.

我对即将到来的这项创新感到兴奋。

And I'm excited about that innovation that's going to come forward.

我认为我们将真正迎来永不断联的时代，这对我们的业务大有裨益。

I think we're going to see truly the dawn of always on connectivity, and that's going to be good for our business.

我认为我们已具备优势，因为我们与客户已建立了优先合作关系来管理他们的网络连接。

I think we're in a position since we already have a preferred relationship with customers to manage their connectivity.

我们天然具备将卫星作为额外附加服务整合到客户网络连接.

We're a natural place to integrate satellite as an additional add on to their connectivity relationships.

那么我们什么时候能看到这些开始生效呢？

So when will we see these kicking in?

我认为2026年你们会看到很多进展。

I think you're gonna see a lot in 2026.

明年，我认为你会开始看到真正的终端用户服务出现。

Next year, I think you're gonna start seeing real end user services coming about.

那么我将如何从中受益呢？

So how going am to benefit from that?

如果你是AT&T的客户，可以期待有这样的选择：比如某天你要开车离开网络覆盖区，可能是去大峡谷漂流但想保持联网，你就能购买日票来保持网络连接。

Well, you should expect if you're a customer of AT and T, you'll have an option to, for example, if you're at a day where you're gonna drive off the network, maybe into the Grand Canyon to go rafting and you wanna stay connected, you'll be able to buy a day pass to stay on the network as a result of that.

或者如果你的生活方式需要这种备用方案——也许你周末出海航行，或是工作需要你在偏远地区进行石油钻探——你可以购买订阅服务来长期保持联网。

Or if you're somebody who has a lifestyle that requires you to always have that kind of backup, maybe you boat on the weekends and you go offshore, maybe you have a job that requires you to be in rural places for oil drilling, you can buy a subscription and have it all the time.

但我认为卫星更像是补充而非直接竞争。

But I think satellite is more complimentary than directly competitive.

会有一些重叠领域，比如物联网——在某些情况下，低轨卫星将成为处理物联网类部署的更好方式，可能取代地面无线网络过去的功能。

There'll be some overlap, Internet of Things, for example, in some cases, LEO will be a better way to handle IoT type arrangements that may supplant what a terrestrial wireless network used to do.

但在多数情况下，它将作为补充，增强美国本就非常强大且高带宽的网络体系。

But in many instances, it's going to be complementary and add on to what are always already really robust high bandwidth networks in The United States.

约翰，我们多聊聊人工智能吧。

John, let's spend a bit more time on AI.

你认为这会如何增加数据量？

How do you think that will increase data volumes?

我认为有几个因素会推动这一趋势。

I think there's a couple of things that will drive it.

最让我兴奋的是，现在无论家里、车里还是工作场所，到处都装有传感器。

The one that I'm probably most excited about is if you kind of look around your house or your car or your workplace, there's sensors everywhere today.

而这些传感器往往就是摄像头。

And oftentimes those sensors are cameras.

过去推动网络流量增长的因素之一，就是我们在每部手机上安装了摄像头。

Certainly one of the things that drove volume on the network in the past was when we put phones, we put cameras on every phone.

人们通过手机拍摄视频或照片并分享内容的行为，为网络带来了大量流量。

And it was all the content that people picked up on either video or taking pictures and wanting to ship it around that drove a lot of traffic on the network.

当你考虑到现在所有正在捕捉视频的传感器，以及AI处理视频并从中提取洞察的能力时，我认为这是一个巨大的机遇。

When you start to think about all the sensors that are capturing video right now, and you think about how capable AI is in processing video and taking insights from it, I think that's one of the huge opportunities.

因此，当我们讨论上游带宽的重要性时，我认为这正是我们应该投资上游带宽的原因之一——如果所有这些传感器都在采集视频数据，就必须有地方进行处理和分析。

So when we talk about the importance of upstream bandwidth, this is one of the reasons I believe we should be investing in that upstream bandwidth is because if all those sensors are out there picking up the video, it's got to get someplace to be processed and analyzed.

而将这些数据回传至网络、送入超大规模语言模型进行处理的上行能力，我认为将是流量激增的关键领域之一。

And that upstream capability to get it back up into the network, get it back up into the hyperscaler LLM to be processed is I think one of the places we're gonna see large upticks in traffic.

最终当得出结论或推断后，这些结果需要快速回传到消费端，供人们决策或采取行动。

And then ultimately, once it's a conclusion or an inference is driven from it, that has to be delivered back to the point of consumption quickly for somebody to make a decision or do something with it.

我认为这对高性能网络提出了极高的要求。

I think that puts a tremendous amount of lean on high performing networks.

这正是我们正在努力构建的方向

That's really what we're attempting to build in

这个问题可能有点蠢，但现在通过你们网络的流量中有多少是图片或视频？

this Stupid question, but how much of the traffic through your networks would now be pictures or video?

就目前实际比例而言，视频流量（包括下行和上行）占我们网络总流量的80%以上，其中大部分是娱乐性质的视频内容。

In terms of the actual percentage today, video in total, both downstream and upstream drives over 80% of the total traffic on And the network much of that's entertainment based video.

回想无线通信领域，4G革命的核心驱动力正是消费者将视频用于休闲娱乐。

When you think about kind of in the wireless space, the four gs revolution was really geared off of consumers consuming video for pleasure and entertainment.

正是这一需求为网络带来了巨大的工作负载。

And that's what drove massive amounts of workloads onto the networks.

我认为在6G和AI时代初期，企业应用可能会成为网络需求增长的主要驱动力，但视频仍将占据重要地位。

I think in the six gs and AI world, early on, we're probably going to see enterprise applications drive more of that increase in demand on the network, but video is still going to be a really important part.

从5G到6G最大的变化是什么？

What's the biggest change from five gs to six

我认为6G将呈现出明显的企业导向特征，而非消费者导向。

You know, I think what you're going to see is that six gs is going to be very enterprise oriented as opposed to consumer oriented.

它将支持在AI时代所需的网络管理类型，以及满足往返延迟和性能方面的严苛要求。

It's going to allow for the kind of management of networks in the types of round trip latency and performance that are necessary in an AI world.

我认为6G将增加无线网络中通常不具备的安全层级，这些层级能很好地应对当前面临的威胁。

I think it's going to add in additional layers of security that have not typically been available in wireless networks that are well tuned to the threats that we see today.

而且我认为它能适应未来海量设备的接入需求。

And I think it will be scalable for the number of devices that are going to be connected.

我们作为用户会感受到不同吗？

Are we going to feel any different?

作为消费者，我认为你未必会直接感受到网络本身的变化，但如果你是企业用户，通过无线网络运行的应用将会有所不同且更优质。

As a consumer, I don't think you're going to necessarily feel the network per se being different, but the applications that you'll be able to operate and achieve, if you're, for example, an enterprise using a wireless network, those applications will be different and better.

你们能提供这种不断增长的容量吗？

Can you deliver that increasing capacity?

我们能做到吗？

Can we deliver it?

是的，我认为我们可以。

Yes, I think we can.

特别是美国在向运营商提供足够许可频谱方面曾略显滞后。

I think The United States in particular was running a little bit behind on getting the right amount of licensed spectrum available to operators.

在特朗普政府初期，短短九个月内完成的工作量可能超过了前四年，他们制定了如何将更多频谱推向市场的路线图，以确保能够处理这些工作负载。

Early on in the Trump administration, there's been probably more work done in a nine month period of time than what was done in the previous four years to have a roadmap of how to bring more of that spectrum to market to ensure that those workloads can be handled.

基于已采取的行动和即将进行的频谱拍卖路径，我对美国能够跟上全球其他关键参与者的步伐感到更加乐观。

I feel much better about it today based on the actions that have been taken and the path to spectrum auctions that are going to be here that The US can keep up with other key players around the globe.

如果在十八个月前，我可能不会这么说。

I wouldn't have said that probably eighteen months ago.

因此，我对我们将处于更有利的位置感到更有信心。

So I feel much more confident we'll be in a better position.

当你对许多即将发生的事情有前瞻性视野时，对吧？

When you have forward visibility into a lot of the things that's happening, right?

因为你们是与许多科技公司合作的大型企业合作伙伴。

Because you're a big corporation partner with a lot of these tech companies.

展望未来的人工智能应用，你最期待的是什么？

When you look at the AI applications going forward, what are you most excited about?

嗯，我们可以在业务内部做一些让我非常兴奋的事情，而且我们已经开始实践了。

Well, there's things we can do inside our business that I get really excited about that we're already proving in.

我们在客户销售、服务和支持方面做了大量工作，显著提升了客户服务质量，降低了运营成本，帮助我们在某些领域减少了客户流失。

We've done a lot in customer sales, service and support that has dramatically improved our customer service, lowered our operating costs, helping us reduce churn in places.

我认为大多数企业都将有机会追求这类实实在在的效益。

Those kinds of meat and potato things, I think most corporations are going to have an opportunity to chase.

我看到我们在定价方式上的一些绝佳机会。

I see some great opportunities for us and how we do pricing.

当你思考AI模型能做什么以及它们如何反映特定领域的竞争态势时，相比我们过去使用的更为静态的模型，现在可以实现更加动态的定价模型。

When you think about what AI models can do and how they inform what's going on competitively in a particular area, much more dynamic models of pricing as compared to what have been more static models that we've used.

因此我对这个感到非常兴奋。

So I'm really excited about that.

我们如何设计网络。

How we engineer networks.

本周早些时候，我正在审阅一系列项目，这些项目展示了我们现在能够实时观察城市中任何时刻的交通流动情况。

I was going through a set of projects earlier this week about our ability now to literally look at how traffic is moving in any given moment in a city.

如果一场马拉松正在进行，交通状况复杂，人们因城市不同区域的不同需求而穿行其间，我们可以动态调整网络以适应这些需求，并实时完成优化。

If a marathon is underway and traffic, people are snaking through the city with different demands at different parts of the city, we can tune the network to follow that demand and do it dynamically in real time.

人工智能正在推动许多这样的变革，这改变了我们的工程实践和部署方式。

And AI is driving a lot of that and that changes our engineering practices and our deployment practices.

那么你们对网络做了什么呢？

So what do you do with the network?

假设现在有一场马拉松比赛，对吧？

So let's say now you have the marathon, right?

你有五万人正在跑巴士塔路线。

You've got 50,000 people running a bus tower.

那么你们对网络做了什么呢？

So what do you do with the network?

人工智能能精确掌握马拉松的路线。

So AI knows exactly the route of the marathon.

它会观察并拍摄特定区域的手持设备数量，评估人群移动方向。

Takes, it looks and takes pictures of how many handsets or any particular places it evaluates where they're moving.

它知道路线，知道需要如何调整和移动基站并重新定向信号。

It knows the route, it knows how it needs to tilt and move cell sites and redirect them.

所以当负载到达某处时，基站已经针对这些负载即将出现的位置进行了调优和调整。

So when the loads get someplace, the cell towers are already tuned and adjusted to where those loads are going to be.

而且它是动态进行的，实时跟随情况变化。

And it's doing it dynamically, literally following things.

我认为这类技术将极大提升服务水平。

And that's those kinds of things I think are gonna help service levels tremendously.

我们过去也做过类似的工作。

We used to do some of that stuff.

那时需要大量人工操作。

It was labor intensive.

以前我们要安排人员守在键盘前手动调整。

We used to have people sitting around it, keyboards adjusting.

现在通过动态调整，我们的执行效率更高了。

Now, if it dynamically occurs, we're more efficient at getting it done.

你见过什么新奇酷炫的设备吗？

Have you seen any new cool devices?

你知道，比如现在有AI眼镜，还有OpenAI正在谈论某种新设备。

You know, I mean, you got the AI glasses, you got, well, OpenAI is talking about some kind of new device.

你见过哪些类型的新设备？

What are the kinds of things you've seen?

我见过第二代智能镜片（如果你愿意称之为眼镜的话），它们现在已具备一定实用性。虽然目前可能还不完美，但你能明显看出它们作为日常生活辅助工具的潜力。

I've seen the second generation of lenses, if you want to call them glasses, that now start to have some utility and you start to look at what they're doing and they're maybe not perfect right now, but you can really start to see where as an augment to your daily life, they can add some value.

我认为这些设备的下一代迭代很可能会带来一些变革性的改变。

And I think another iteration of those could very clearly start to change some things.

外形尺寸还需要稍加改进。

Form factor still needs to be worked on a little bit.

易用性仍有待考量。

Ease of use still needs to be looked at.

但熟悉这项技术的人确实能用它们完成一些相当强大的事情。

But people who are conversant using the technology can actually do some pretty powerful things with them.

举个例子，比如某种眼镜、镜片或作为屏幕补充的设备需要连接的情况。

And there's an example of if, you know, some kind of a set of glasses or lenses or a supplement for you as a screen has to be connected.

这对我们的业务很有好处，对吧？

That's good for our business, right?

是的，完全同意。

Yeah, absolutely.

我得承认当它们刚问世或第一代产品推出时，我相当怀疑，但现在我觉得这真的很酷。

I have to say when they first came out or when the first generation came out, I was quite skeptical, but now I think it'd be pretty cool.

它们正在进步，增强现实技术——如果足够智能，现在的人工智能已经能听懂对话语境，不需要你操作用户界面或给出指令，就能凭直觉理解你在对话中任何时刻想要做什么。

They're getting there and the augmented, you know, if it's smart enough and AI is smart enough now to listen, take context from speech where you're not having to manipulate a user interface or give it direction, but it can intuitively know what you're attempting to do at any given point in time in a conversation.

我确实认为会有一些非常强大的应用场景。

I do think there can be some very powerful applications.

你为什么不投资数据中心？

Why are you not investing in data centers?

你看，在科技领域，规模效应至关重要。

Look, if you think about anything in tech, scale matters.

如果你要建设网络，规模效应就很重要。

If you build networks, scale matters.

铺设光纤很重要。

Putting fiber out, matters.

建设数据中心。

Building data centers.

当你思考当今的实现方式——芯片设计时，关键在于拥有能让你以截然不同方式在该架构中组网的知识产权。

And when you think about how that's being done today, which is chip design, it's your ability to have intellectual property that allows you to network in that structure very, very differently.

这就是规模效应——不会有18家公司同时建设数据中心，最终只会剩下三四家，而且它们都在使用原生硬件。

And it's scale, there aren't going to be 18 people building data centers, there's going to be a handful, three, four, and they're all doing it on native hardware.

它们采用原生芯片设计。

They're doing it on native chip design.

这是个需要巨额投资的行业。

That's a business that requires a tremendous amount of investment.

需要持续投入大量资金才能保持技术领先。

It requires a lot of investment cycles to stay current.

光是确保连接所有数据中心的网络架构保持尖端水平、规模适当且运转正常，就让我应接不暇了。

I have my hands full just making sure that the fabric that connects all those data centers is state of the art, scaled and working properly.

你认为数据中心对运营者来说会是一项好的长期投资吗？

Do you think data centers will be a good long term investment for the people who do them?

我认为AI领域将会出现赢家。

I think there's going be winners in the AI space.

我觉得最终的赢家数量可能会比现在投资这个领域的人要少。

I think there probably are going to be fewer winners than the number that are investing in it right now.

将会出现一些惨烈的淘汰。

There's going to be some carnage.

现在这里面存在泡沫吗？

Is there a bubble in there now?

是的，我认为某些地方确实存在非理性的繁荣。

Yeah, I think there's a little bit of irrational exuberance in some places.

显然，当你观察时，会发现宣传与现实之间存在差距。

Certainly when you look, there's the announcements and then there's the reality.

那些宣传数据确实令人瞠目。

The announcements are pretty staggering.

数字。

Numbers.

你不认为这些会实现吗？

You don't think those will come through?

我认为会有一个限制因素，至少在美国，能用于启动这一切的电力供应是有限的。

Think there's going to be a limiting factor, at least in The US around how much power is available to turn it all up.

我认为这将成为一个自然的制约因素。

And I think that's going to become a natural gating factor.

除非我们在电力基础设施方面实现不同的增长曲线，否则要实现所有已宣布的目标将会非常困难。

And it's going to be very hard to achieve all the announcements that have been made unless we get on a different growth curve for the power infrastructure in

这个国家。

this country.

考虑到技术发展的速度，你需要在相对较短的时间内对这些资产进行折旧，对吧？

With the speed of technology development, you need to depreciate these assets over a relatively short timeframe, right?

我也这么认为。

I would think.

这就是我的观点——当你审视建设这些数据中心的资本密集度，再看看我所在业务的资本密集度，我非常满足于专注在一个领域。

And that's my view of when you look at the capital intensity of building those data centers, you look at the capital intensity of my business, I'm perfectly happy staying in one domain.

你们如何在AT&T内部构建AI文化？

How do you build an AI culture within AT and T?

如何促使人们进行尝试和采纳？

How do you get people to experiment and adopt?

要知道，我可能要三年后才能对此发表见解，等我们真正经历过这个过程。但改变文化确实是企业中最艰难的事，尤其对老牌企业而言。

You know, I'll weigh in on that three years from now, maybe after we get through it, but it's changing culture is the hardest thing you do in a company, especially an established company.

为什么这么困难？

Why is it so difficult?

因为涉及的是人。

They're people.

我认为人们通常都有自己的动机，他们会考虑'这对我有什么好处''什么最符合我的利益''我该如何处理这件事'。

And I think, you know, people generally have their own motivations and they have, it's what's in it for me and what's in my best interest and how do I process on this?

而你必须要让13万人以共同的方式看待某件事。

And somehow you gotta get 130,000 people viewing something in a common fashion.

这确实是件难事。

And that's a hard thing to do.

我们正在尝试几种不同的方法。

What we're doing is trying a couple of different approaches.

我们运用激励机制，让人们出于自身利益主动接受并运用它，因为这与他们的薪酬或既定目标相关。

We're using incentives and giving people motivation to want to embrace it and use it where it's in their self interest to do that because of how they get paid or the objectives they have in front of them.

我们建立了特殊工作组结构，将其与日常业务运营分离。

We're using structures where we're separating work groups from kind of the BAU construct, our business as usual.

我们会抽调人员并告知：你将负责站点运营，采用不同的考核标准，要通过创新来改进业务，不受现有模式束缚。

We'll pull people out and say, you're gonna run a site operation, you're going to be measured differently, you're going to try to make this better by inventing the new, and you're not encumbered by what we're doing today.

我们正通过这种方式测试流程。

And we're testing processes that way.

我们建立了卓越中心，将AI专家资源开放给全公司，他们作为内部顾问协助推进项目，避免专业能力在过多部门被稀释。

We've built a center of excellence where they're available, the expertise in AI is available to anybody in the company and they work out as consultants in the company to adopt projects that people wanna carry forward, while we're not trying to build that expertise in too many places where it gets diluted.

我们正在寻找有意构建下一代AI平台、且需要真实复杂测试案例的合作方。

And we're finding partners to bring into the company that want to build the next platform that's an AI based platform and need really hard test cases to do that.

于是他们来到AT&T说，让我为你们打造未来的财务部门。

So they come into AT and T and say, let me build you the finance department of the future.

我们将以协作的方式完成这件事。

And we'll do that collaboratively.

我们会免费与你们合作，只要我们能将共同开发的产品推广到其他公司并进一步销售。

We'll do that gratis with you as long as the product that we built, we can go out and then use in other companies sell it further.

因此我们采用了多种不同的方式

And so we're using a variety of different ways

思考一下，你试图改变或推动AT&T文化的哪一部分？

to think Which about part of the AT and T culture are you trying to shift or move?

你知道，我们的文化中有很多真正优秀的特质。

You know, have a lot of things that are really good in our culture.

没有做对某些事是不可能存续150年的。

Don't stay for 150 without doing something right.

我们有许多员工对企业的使命——保持人们互联——有着难以置信的奉献精神。

And we have a lot of employees that are incredibly committed to the mission of the business, which is to keep people connected.