AT&T Estimates Some Fourth-Quarter Charges

By Josh Beckerman 

AT&T Inc. expects to post pretax charges of about $7.9 billion related to pensions and post-employment benefit plans and about $2.1 billion for the abandonment in place of certain assets for its fourth quarter.

The charge for the pensions and benefits reflects an actuarial loss. AT&T, along with about 30 other companies, in the past few years has switched to mark-to-market pension accounting to make it easier for investors to gauge plan performance.

With the switch, pension gains and losses flow into earnings sooner than under the old rules, which are still in effect and allow companies to smooth out the impact over several years.

Companies that switch to valuing assets at up-to-date market prices may incur more volatility in their earnings, but it offers a more current picture of a pension plan's health.

A year ago, AT&T posted a $7.6 billion pretax gain tied to pension accounting.

The charge for network assets follows AT&T's determination that certain copper assets won't be necessary to support future network activity, due to lower demand for legacy voice and data services and the move toward new technology.

Companies like AT&T and Verizon Communications Inc. have been replacing copper-based technologies in their networks with faster, Internet-based technologies that run over fiber-optic lines.

Write to Josh Beckerman at [e-mail]

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