AT (NYSE: T) is betting big on new open-source telecom equipment that it says will save it billions over time. Investors are excited about the development, sending AT shares up about 3% as of 11 a.m. ET Tuesday.
AT has agreed to buy upwards of $14 billion worth of hardware and services from Swedish equipment supplier Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC), part of the company's transition away from proprietary technology and toward what is known as Open and Interoperable Radio Access Network tech, or Open RAN.
The five-year agreement will shift most of AT's equipment spending to Ericsson and away from Nokia (NYSE: NOK), which has been AT's vendor of choice in the past. There's a lot of upfront costs in shifting to Ericsson gear and Open RAN, but AT expects it to lead to savings over time.
Source Fool.com