AT&T Mobility CEO Glenn Lurie is set to retire on September 1.

The Wall Street Journal originally reported that Lurie will step down in 2018, and AT&T now confirms that the executive's retirement date will be September 1, 2017. Lurie, formerly AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T)'s M2M Unit Boss, took over as CEO of AT&T Mobility from Ralph de la Vega in August 2014. (See AT&T's Lurie Promoted to CEO of Mobility.)

An AT&T spokesman confirmed by email early afternoon that Lurie is leaving: "Glenn has announced his intention to retire on September 1. [We] Don't have any additional statement to share."

During his tenure as CEO, Lurie has focused on developing both AT&T's connected car and smart cities markets. (See AT&T Going Big on Smart Cities and AT&T Deal Puts 4G in 10 Million New Fords by 2020.)

The change for AT&T Mobility comes amid talk of wider changes at the top of AT&T. The catalyst for this would be AT&T's merger with Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC), which the operator expects to complete this year. (See AT&T Adds 2.8M Subs Across US & Mexico, Various Connected Devices in Q2.)

Those changes could even include AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson. CFO John Stephens recently acknowledged the rumors on the operator's second-quarter earnings call, but he described such talk as "premature."

— Dan Jones, Mobile Editor, Light Reading