Apple Economy's 'Fiscal Cliff' Saved by AT&T's Checkbook

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- In the wake of Barack Obama's re-election as president of the United States, lawmakers like Republican House majority leader John Boehner and Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid took to airwaves to show Americans that Congress will work to bridge a partisan budget divide and avert a so-called 'fiscal cliff' scheduled for early 2013.

Less heralded on Wednesday was telecom giant AT&T's announcement of a blockbuster capital spending plan, which will stimulate an array of tech, telecom and infrastructure sectors and forestall the prospect that falling corporate spending will slow a booming wireless economy driven by the Apple iPhone and Google -Android powered devices.

At a telecom conference in New York City, AT&T said it will boost corporate spending to $22 billion a year through 2015 to improve its wireless service and upgrade wireline and fiber networks. The move comes at a time when carriers like AT&T, Verizon , Sprint and a recently merged MetroPCS - T-Mobile are in an expensive fight to upgrade wireless networks to meet surging data demand from smartphones and tablets.

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While AT&T's higher than expected spending plan was seen by John Hodulik of UBS as depressing its forecasted earnings, the company also upped its quarterly dividend to 45 cents a share, in a set of announcements that failed to impress investors.

Still, AT&T's plan is seen as returning wireless sector spending to growth from forecasts of a decline starting in 2013, and analysts and investors expect it can drive the earnings of Juniper Networks , Ciena and Qualcomm , which provide infrastructure and parts to the smartphone economy pioneered by Apple.