Stephenson claimed he did not discuss the telco giant’s proposed $85 billion takeover of Time Warner, something Trump said he opposed during the presidential campaign, but said the President had expressed a “specific agenda” for tax and regulatory reform.
"I was meeting with a CEO. It was obvious," Stephenson said on a conference call to discuss AT&T's fourth quarter earnings.
"I would tell you that the man, the president, is focused on these. I left with a degree of optimism that this could actually be pulled off this year."
Stephenson was speaking as AT&T posted a slight dip in revenue, from $42.1 billion in Q4 2015 to $41.8 billion. Net income fell from $4.01 billion to $2.44 billion.
The CEO also expressed optimism about Trump’s selection of Ajit Pai as the new chair of regulator the Federal Communications Commission.
Trump appointed Pai, a critic of the regulator’s stance on net neutrality, earlier this week, replacing Obama-appointee Tom Wheeler, who stepped down.
AT&T has been locked in a legal dispute with the FCC over its net neutrality rules, launched in February 2015, and has fallen foul of the regulations on a number of occasions. Earlier this month, the regulator accused AT&T’s DirecTV package of violating zero rating rules.
Stephenson added: “We're optimistic about what a Chairman Pai would bring to the industry. You should expect to see us go hard. We are having some really good success in the marketplace with it].”