I buy it. Take a look at the top shareholders of AT&T, especially Blockrock and Vanguard. Those two top dogs want to see dividends, because they sell funds that have dividends, and they need stock in these funds. If AT&T's management falters, those two top dogs will field an alternative slate of directors to be voted on at the next meeting.
Aside from all the hoopla about Elliott, Elliott didn't hold a candle compared to Vanguard and Blockrock.
https://money.cnn.com/quote/shareholders/shareholders.html?symb=T&subView=institutional
AT&T's big problem is in jettisoning landline telephony, along with the mainframe computers that bill it and so forth. First it was going to be 2017, then the ballyhooed 2020. There's no money in a service that not even 1 out of 10 households have anymore.