In an effort to help improve public safety, AT&T Inc. T in collaboration with the City of Los Angeles administration introduced ShakeAlertLA — a mobile app that alerts residents of Los Angeles County in case of an earthquake.
Notably, this new app is based on seismic data from a West Coast-wide network of sensors that detect earthquakes. It has been designed to send push notifications to citizens to give them a head start when an earthquake occurs. This is seen as a trial run to caution users when seismic activity equal to or greater than magnitude 5.0 is detected by a regional sensor network.
The app also entails tools for readiness plan, equipping citizens with local response information and providing details on support services for recovery efforts. It is free and available both in English and Spanish. It can be downloaded on iOS and Android smartphones and used on any service provider’s network.
Further, the telco giant and Los Angeles are exploring ways to use technology to solve problems such as traffic congestion and public safety for the benefit of community. They are looking to deploy Internet of Things solutions across the city. AT&T aims to ramp up the FirstNet deployment while focusing on 5G to retain its leading position in the market. Through public-private collaboration, smart cities technology can be used to provide better connectivity while narrowing the digital divide.
However, AT&T’s shares have lost 22.5% compared with decline of 6.6% for the industry in the past year. This can be largely attributed to competitive pressure coupled with steady decline in linear TV subscribers and legacy services, hurting the firm’s profitability. AT&T’s huge debt burden also acts as a major impediment to bottom-line growth. It remains to be seen whether such innovative services help the company to script a turnaround in 2019 in its share price performance.
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AT&T currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Better-ranked stocks in the industry include T-Mobile US, Inc. TMUS, Sprint Corporation S and United States Cellular Corporation USM. While T-Mobile sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Sprint and United States Cellular carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
T-Mobile has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 6%.
Sprint has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 19.6%.
United States Cellular has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 1%.
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