AT&T has an established enterprise go-to-market strategy based on its long telecommunications heritage but is looking to lean a bit more on channel partners to extend that reach into tertiary markets that are garnering broader attention.

Chad Townes, SVP for AT&T Partner Solutions, explained to SDxCentral that over the “last year-and-a-half or so we've really leaned into the channel a lot harder than we historically have.”

“AT&T had tended to be more of a direct first-type of a company, and we're really embracing the opportunity to grow the business, and to do that we have to go with the channel,” Townes said. “We just don't have enough resources, enough salespeople to cover the marketplace like we need to. And so, over the past 18 or 24 months, there's been a real concerted effort within AT&T to bring the channel forward as part of what we do every day and make it front and center with that.”

That effort was highlighted during AT&T’s recent Channel Partners Expo, where Townes said he told attendees of the carrier’s goal of having 65% of AT&T Business sales to come through the channel.

“That's not a mixed shift, as much as it is, we're lacking in the channel, and we need to go grow the channel, in particular in the mid-markets and small- and medium-sized business space. We're under penetrated, under covered there, and if we can go grow in those spaces, we'll bring that up,” Townes said.

Toward that goal, Townes said that AT&T recently opened up all of its state and local accounts to channel partners. “There's no restricted accounts that are protected for our sales people,” Townes said of that move, adding that the carrier is also opening up that opportunity into federal government accounts.

“AT&T wants the channel to be out there,” Townes said. “We want to embrace any opportunities that partners have, no matter if it's small, medium, enterprise, federal, state … we want to support it all.”

That support also feeds into different services. Townes, for instance, referenced AT&T’s Dynamic Defense as one of those services that the carrier has embedded in the network and can offer to channel partners. That service was unveiled in early 2024, and is focused on small- and mid-sized enterprises.

AT&T is also attempting to further blur the line between connectivity services, which include the carrier’s wireless, wireline, fiber, and satellite offerings.

“You're going to see packages that don't differentiate between one or the other but rather offer up the solution that our partners and our customers need,” Townes said, later adding, “the broader the reach of both our wireless and wireline networks get, the more solutions we're going to be able to deliver to our partners.”

AT&T CEO John Stankey has also repeatedly touted the carrier’s growing 5G-based Internet Air fixed-wireless access (FWA) service as being an appealing option for the enterprise space.

“One of the things that I'm really energized about in the fixed-wireless space is what it means in the business market,” Stankey said during a recent J.P. Morgan investor conference. “We're growing our volumes in business … and I’ll grow our fixed wireless in business subscribers all day long.”

Competitive balance

AT&T’s bolstered channel partner initiative comes as rivals continue to strive for enterprise market share.

AT&T and Verizon have traditionally been the more dominant operator-based competitors in the enterprise space backed by their respective heritage operations and extensive service offerings. However, others are aiming at that opportunity.

T-Mobile US, for instance, has repeatedly stated plans to more pointedly target the enterprise market. CEO Srini Gopalan noted during a recent investor conference that T-Mobile US’ enterprise “market share is in the 10 to 15% range, massive opportunity there.”

T-Mobile US last year also signed enterprise-focused mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) deals with Comcast Business and Charter’s Spectrum Mobile for Business that allows those cable giants to tap T-Mobile US’ 5G network to provide wholesale wireless communication services to business users.

Analysts at that time noted the move could allow those cable providers to pressure the entrenched incumbents.

“Arming Charter and Comcast with attractive converged solutions for medium and large enterprise customers will threaten Verizon’s share in mobile and make cable a more formidable competitor for fixed services,” NewStreet Research Lead Analyst Jonathan Chaplin noted in a research report at that time.

Townes acknowledged that there was indeed more competition in the space, but that AT&T feels like it’s in a good position to tackle that challenge with the help of its channel partners.

“The piece that we're going to go after is the total package, the total solution,” Townes said of the carrier’s focus. “Customers are less likely to come and ask for a wired-only solution or wireless-only solution. They need both. And we're kind of uniquely positioned – and Verizon a little bit – where we have a little bit more of the capability to serve the entire portfolio. And if customers want simple and easy, if we do our job and we make it simple and easy to buy both, it's going to give us a bit of an advantage there. But absolutely, competition is increasing, and customers want more, and they don't have necessarily more money.”

Partners are 'instrumental'

AT&T’s channel partner embrace also comes as the broader space has been rocked by a seemingly never-ending series of changes. This includes moves by vendors like Broadcom, Cisco, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE).

Townes indicated that despite those challenges, he views the partner ecosystem being “as healthy as it’s ever been.”

“Most people … especially if you look in that midsize customer and down, they don't have an IT department, they don't have a technology leader, but they know they have to have it and so they need trusted partners that can come out and help them build those solutions. They're not always going to come to the big guys because they're going to assume they can't afford it or that they can't help, that they can't meet their needs, or we might not even have the right people to meet their needs because we can't have enough of them,” Townes said. “So I think the channel is going to be instrumental in filling that void … and I think our partners are going to be in a perfect position to fill that void. I'm really bullish on the channel across the board because the needs are just going to grow faster than the capabilities are going to be there to support them without that partner.”