AT&T capex slowing ?

According to one analyst, George Notter of Jefferies & Co, ATT should decelerate capex spend in 4Q06, after having invested faster than expected on its fiber-based Project Lightspeed project. ATT denied and said it has spent up to now $6.2bn this year and was targeting to spend $8bn-8.5bn over the year. Other analysts did not confirm. Notter said that ATT had been spending more-than-expected capital to condition copper loops in advance of turning up ADSL2+ based services, and to trench in the fiber infrastructure. It cited Redback and Ciena at risk on 4Q06 revenues, as they derived more than 10% of their total revenues from ATT.