Our economic system is at odds with security because we're trying to "get by" as cheap as possible. That doesn't bode well for protection of users' data.
I can only imagine the quality of mobile and fiber networking we could have had if that money was spent on telecommunications. And maybe they would have spent a few million on having proper security.
An infrastructure utility such as ATT typically has to offer dividends because it is not going to experience the type of growth that would result in a return via share price increase.
Of course, ATT’s prices are not regulated like a proper utility, even though they should be, but it is still subject to the same market forces that prevent it from growing like a tech company would, who would have the option of foregoing dividends (or share buybacks).