The US telco was forced to rule out the acquisition for at least six months by Britain’s takeover panel, but analysts still expected AT&T to make an offer in the future.
Speculation over the possible takeover increased after Vodafone sold its stake in Verizon Wireless to Verizon Communications for $130 billion, which closed two weeks ago.
Stephenson said the opportunity for AT&T to capitalise on the opportunity in mobile internet and the development of 4G on the continent could now have passed.
“Europe way underinvested for quite some period of time in terms of LTE,” he said. “What we had always believed was going to transpire is now transpiring.”
Stephenson also claimed that the financial position of European carriers was now beginning to improve, with the companies now making more investments in the market.
