AT&T Confirms More Layoffs Ahead but Disputes Report of an 85,000-Employee Target by 2030

AT&T's workforce has already been cut by more than half over the past decade. Jeremy Legg, the company's chief technology officer, told WIRED that trend isn't stopping.

"We're not going to have the same headcount in five years as we do today," Legg said, adding that AT&T looks at how it stacks up against competitors when making staffing decisions.

The comparison isn't flattering. According to public financial disclosures cited by WIRED, AT&T generated less revenue per employee last year than either Verizon or T-Mobile. Both rivals have also cut staff in recent months.

The numbers so far

AT&T employed nearly 131,000 people as of June 2026, WIRED reported. The company cut about 2,100 jobs in the first half of this year, after shedding 8,000 people in 2025.

CEO John Stankey told the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference in San Francisco earlier this month that by the end of the decade he wants AT&T seen as a "dramatically different" company, with a "fantastic" fiber network and a "kickass wireless network."

The disputed 85,000 figure

WIRED calculated that if AT&T keeps cutting jobs at last year's pace, its workforce could approach 85,000 employees by 2030. An unnamed person described by WIRED as familiar with the matter, and not authorized to speak publicly, called that number the company's internal target.

AT&T pushed back. The company told WIRED the 85,000 figure is inaccurate.

WIRED's number is an extrapolation of last year's cut rate projected out four more years, not a disclosed AT&T plan. The anonymous source's claim that it functions as an internal target is unverified and comes from someone who wasn't authorized to comment. AT&T's denial is on the record but doesn't offer an alternative number.

Superpower Daily's coverage of the same WIRED reporting draws that distinction explicitly, noting that Legg's public comments establish a direction for headcount, not an agreed endpoint, and that extending one year's cuts through 2030 is "a scenario, not a confirmed staffing plan." Nobody at AT&T has confirmed 85,000 as a goal, and the company says the number is wrong.

What's actually being automated

Separate from the headcount fight, the mechanics of what AT&T is automating are well documented. The company is retiring its old-school landline phone service. It's also digitizing decades-old, paper-based internal processes, including the steps involved when a customer disconnects phone service.

AT&T is using AI for customer service, for identifying sites for new cell towers, and for flagging maintenance issues on existing towers. A generative AI tool the company calls GeoModeler adjusts network settings automatically during events like extreme weather. AT&T is also using AI to generate software code and manage service issues, similar to what many large companies are doing now.

Legg said the company still expects to hire even as total headcount falls. He pointed to a need for people to build and oversee AI agents, and for technicians to maintain fiber lines. Hiring in those areas won't necessarily help workers being cut elsewhere. There's no indication AT&T is retraining laid-off staff into the new roles.

Automation also isn't the only force shrinking the payroll. WIRED reported that AT&T's five-day return-to-office mandate for most workers has driven some natural attrition, with Legg arguing the policy is meant to fix a deteriorating internal culture. That's a third distinct channel for headcount loss, separate from layoffs and from software replacing a task outright.

The bigger picture

AT&T still handles about 15 percent of global internet traffic, according to Legg, and remains one of the largest employers in American telecom despite a decade of cuts. AT&T has been around for 150 years, and shedding middle management and paper-based back-office jobs while investing in fiber and AI infrastructure is a straightforward story of a legacy business trying to compete with leaner rivals and new technology. Nobody disputes that direction.

What isn't settled is how far the cuts go, how fast, and whether an internal number like 85,000 actually exists inside AT&T's planning documents. The company says it doesn't. WIRED's anonymous source says it does. Until AT&T issues formal guidance on staffing, or WIRED produces documentation beyond a single unnamed source, that specific number remains unconfirmed either way, even as the broader trend of shrinking headcount is not in dispute.