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US Judge Approves $177 Million Settlement in AT&T 2024 Data Breach Lawsuits

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A U.S. judge granted preliminary approval on Friday to a $177 million settlement resolving class-action lawsuits against telecom giant AT&T (T.N) over data breaches in 2024 that exposed personal information of tens of millions of customers. U.S. District Judge Ada Brown in Dallas ruled that the settlement was fair and reasonable.

The settlement addresses claims stemming from breaches announced by AT&T in May and July of last year. Depending on the breach, customers who suffered losses “fairly traceable” to the incidents can receive payments of up to $2,500 or $5,000. After direct loss claims are paid, remaining funds will be distributed to customers whose personal data was accessed.

AT&T denied responsibility for the criminal acts but agreed to the settlement to avoid prolonged and costly litigation. The company expects final approval by the end of 2025 and plans to begin issuing payments early next year.

One breach involved the illegal download of about 109 million customer accounts from AT&T’s Snowflake cloud platform, exposing six months of call and text logs from 2022 for nearly all its customers. In March 2024, AT&T revealed a related data set released on the dark web, affecting approximately 7.6 million current and 65.4 million former account holders, with data dating back to 2019 or earlier.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is also investigating the incidents. Last September, AT&T agreed to pay $13 million to settle an FCC probe into a 2023 data breach involving a cloud vendor that affected 8.9 million wireless customers. The FCC said the exposed data covered customers from 2015 to 2017 and should have been deleted by 2017 or 2018.

BT CEO Kirkby Signals AI Could Accelerate Job Cuts, Openreach Spin-Off Possible – Financial Times

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BT Group CEO Allison Kirkby indicated in an interview with the Financial Times that advances in artificial intelligence (AI) might deepen the extensive job cuts already planned at the British telecom giant.

Kirkby noted that BT’s current plan to cut over 40,000 jobs and reduce costs by £3 billion ($4 billion) by 2030 “did not reflect the full potential of AI.” She suggested that depending on AI developments, BT could become “even smaller by the end of the decade.”

The company had previously announced plans to cut up to 55,000 jobs, including contractors, by 2030 under former CEO Philip Jansen, aiming for a leaner workforce and substantially lowered costs by decade’s end.

Kirkby, who took over from Jansen a year ago, also hinted at the possibility of spinning off Openreach, BT’s network infrastructure arm. She expressed concerns that Openreach’s value is not currently reflected in BT’s share price, stating that if this undervaluation continues, BT “would absolutely have to look at options.”

In response to Reuters, BT clarified that a spin-off of Openreach is not an active consideration at this time and did not comment further on Kirkby’s remarks.

BT’s recent financial update highlighted strong fibre broadband demand and over £900 million in cost savings, which helped sustain full-year earnings and improve cash flow. Growth in Openreach compensated for revenue and profit declines in the business and consumer segments, where legacy voice services and handset sales continue to decline.

Telus Moves to Fully Acquire Digital Unit to Boost AI Control

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Canadian telecom giant Telus announced Thursday its intention to acquire all outstanding shares of its digital services subsidiary, Telus Digital, aiming for greater control over its artificial intelligence capabilities. The offer values Telus Digital at approximately $946.8 million, with Telus proposing to buy the remaining shares at $3.40 each—a 15% premium over the subsidiary’s last closing price.

Currently, Telus owns about 57% of the digital unit directly and through other entities. The subsidiary’s U.S.-listed shares have declined over 24% this year, underperforming compared to Telus’s parent company stock, which has gained nearly 19%.

This acquisition bid highlights Telus’ strategic move to strengthen operational integration of Telus Digital, which supports businesses in adopting AI and developing data strategies amid a global push toward AI technology adoption. CEO Darren Entwistle emphasized that full ownership would accelerate AI capability enhancement and SaaS transformation across Telus’s operations.

In a related investment push, Telus revealed plans last month to invest over C$70 billion (US$51.4 billion) in expanding Canada’s network infrastructure over the next five years, including the launch of two new AI-focused data centers.

Barclays is advising Telus on the transaction.