AT&T CEO on Enterprise iPad Adoption and Wireless Voice Quality Improvements

In an interview on CNBC today, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson spent a considerable amount of time discussing the carrier's relationship with Apple, initially focusing on the iPad and its strong adoption, particularly among business users.

I think this is going to be really a significant product for enterprise. You think about, you know, our objective is just to mobilize everything. Whether it's in the home or the workplace, this is a device that really lets you think differently about mobilizing all of the applications that you see in business. And we're getting a strong interest from our large business customers on bringing this device into their environments, and whether it's working with the salesforce, whether it's order takers, any number of areas, are really excited about bringing this device in.

Near the end of the interview, the conversation turned back to the company's wireless network, and persistent voice quality issues that have been plaguing the company in certain markets. Stephenson acknowledged the issues caused by "impressive" customer adoption in those locations and noted that the company feels that voice quality is "getting to where it should be".

The uptake and the demand was dramatic, and there are particular markets like New York. The demand was really impressive, and it had an effect on voice quality. We have been going hard at the voice quality issue in New York, and made tremendous progress. And so, we're getting to a point where voice quality is getting to where it should be, and mobile broadband is the fastest in the nation. as measured by any number of independent people.

AT&T has repeatedly claimed that it is investing heavily in areas like Manhattan and San Francisco that have been seeing performance issues, and while the company's call service has continued to receive less-than-stellar marks.