Here's why Trump slammed AT&T after his conference call with faith leaders

US President Donald Trump slammed AT&T, one of two White House telecom vendors, after a network glitch disrupted his conference call with faith leaders

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday (IST) berated US telecom giant AT&T after a network disruption affected his conference call with faith leaders.

 

Taking to his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump wrote, “I apologise for the long wait on the Faith Leaders Conference Call. AT&T ought to get its act together... We may have to reschedule the call, but we’ll use another carrier the next time.”

 

Trump further demanded the involvement of AT&T’s top leadership. “Whoever that may be,” he added, referring to Chief Executive Officer John Stankey. He accused the company of failing to operate its equipment properly.

 

 

AT&T responds, blames platform glitch

 

AT&T responded on social media saying it had contacted the White House and was “working to quickly understand and assess the situation". In its preliminary findings, the company said the disruption was due to a fault in the conference call platform, not the network itself.

 

Trump, however, claimed this was not the first such incident and signalled that future White House teleconferencing services might be switched to another provider.

 

White House telecom contracts in focus

 

According to a Bloomberg report, AT&T and Lumen Technologies Inc. are the two vendors contracted by the White House for teleconferencing and telecommunications services. Since the contract began in fiscal year 2020, AT&T has earned $1.7 million in obligations under the agreement.

 

Following Trump’s remarks, AT&T’s share price briefly dipped before recovering. The firm has been under scrutiny for prior service disruptions and, earlier this year, announced plans to credit customers for internet outages and long wait times.

 

Trump mobile brand announcement

 

Earlier this month, Trump announced that his family business has licensed his name to launch a mobile service and a $499 smartphone in a deal that was brokered by his children.