reports
- Vikash Harlalka
BEAD: West Virginia releases final proposal
What’s new: West Virginia released their final proposal last night. Among large broadband operators, Frontier was the big winner. Comcast continues to feature in the list of proposed providers. Fiber continues to be the preferred technology. In this short note, we discuss the proposal, compare the results with our estimates from Broadband Insights database, provide a quick summary of BEAD proposals so far, and discuss the implications for broadband companies.
- Vikash Harlalka
2Q25 Broadband Trends
What’s new: in this report we discuss one of the drivers of slower broadband growth – a rise in mobileonly households. While we do not have the data to support it, we discuss the reasons why we find it a plausible explanation for the slower industry growth. We also update our industry forecast and reprise our work on competitive positioning of the operators based on relative cNPS scores.
- Vikash Harlalka
BEAD: Louisiana releases final proposal
Louisiana was the second state to release their final proposal at the end of last week. Virginia just beat Louisiana and was the first. Louisiana Local Fiber Consortium, which includes T-Mobile, was the big winner again. Surprisingly, Comcast was the only large Cable operator among the winners. The ILECs won less than we expected. Fiber continues to be the technology of choice for BEAD. In this short note, we discuss the proposal, compare the results with our estimates from Broadband Insights da...
- Vikash Harlalka
Autumn for Broadband 2Q25
In this installment of our Autumn for Broadband series, we provide a quick update on trends in the broadband market based on what we have seen from the companies that have reported so far. Net adds remained nearly flat compared to a year ago (when adjusted for ACP impact) but were within the pre-pandemic norm. Industry subscriber trends have mostly stabilized over the past 3 quarters, but y/y growth remains below pre-pandemic levels.
- Vikash Harlalka
Quick Hit: T-Mobile and KRR complete Metronet Acquisition
Last week, T-Mobile and KKR announced the completion of the acquisition of Metronet through their joint venture. Investors are focused on how fast Metronet is deploying fiber and how fast they are penetrating this build. We used our Broadband Insights database to analyze both of these in this short note.
- Jonathan Chaplin
T-Mobile 2Q25 Results Review & Model Update
In this note we review results, update the model, and compare updated guidance and our updated estimates to consensus. 2Q25 results were quite strong. The company beat on postpaid phone and FWA net adds as well as postpaid phone ARPU. Service revenue, EBITDA and FCF were all well ahead of expectations. Consensus for 2025 net adds and free cash flow are all but certain to rise. We also believe there is meaningful upside to estimates for free cash flow in 2026 and 2027 from tax reform. (Buy; $TP: ...
- Jonathan Chaplin
T-Mobile: quick thoughts following the 2Q25 call
We will review results and model updates in a separate note. In this note we cover comments on wholesale aspirations, convergence positioning, fiber M&A, the pace of growth in fiber JVs, the Company’s appetite for more spectrum, the implications of the 800MHz sale price, capital allocation priorities, and growth in the mobile and broadband markets.
- Jonathan Chaplin
New Cable MVNO – implications for Cable and Mobile operators
Charter and Comcast announced that they have signed an MVNO with T-Mobile that will target new business customers (here). In this quick note we provide thoughts on implications for Verizon, T-Mobile, Charter, Comcast, and the industry more broadly.
- Jonathan Chaplin
There is more Cable and Fiber M&A coming
This report provides a detailed update to our fiber forecast, with implications for the Fiber and Cable operators. The analysis suggests a strong incentive for Mobile and Cable operators to continue to consolidate assets. The analysis leverages the latest release of FCC data coupled with new features and data sets that have been built into Broadband Insights.
- Blair Levin
What Does FCC TMUS Approval Tell Us About SATS, Media Consolidation, a...
As expected, the FCC approved the TMUS/USM transaction. In this note, we analyze what the FCC Order doing so tells us about other potential transactions, including SATS’ spectrum sales, other wireless deals, broadcast consolidation, and cable consolidation.
- Jonathan Chaplin
DOJ on spectrum and fourth carrier
The DOJ made some surprising comments on the importance of a fourth carrier and the dangers of the three national carriers acquiring more spectrum in its decision on USM (decision here). Please see Blair’s note for the definitive view on regulatory implications. We provide some quick thoughts on implications for Wireless Carriers and Cable in this brief note.
- Blair Levin
DOJ Approves TMUS But with a Big But (That Affects SATS)
As expected, the DOJ has approved TMUS’ acquisition of USM. But the approval had language that suggests that the DOJ may be more troubled than we anticipated with the prospect of SATS selling its spectrum to the Big Three wireless carriers. In this note we analyze the DOJ language and what it means for SATS and the sector.
- Jonathan Chaplin
Updating Price Targets for One Big Beautiful Bill Act
We have updated the price targets for our coverage as a result of the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Prior to the bill becoming law, we had already added the value of tax reform to our price targets on a probability-weighted basis. We have now increased the probability from 75% to 100%.
- Blair Levin
- Blair Levin
- Jonathan Chaplin
Mobile and broadband pair trades to consider this summer
While we have been intensively focused on such things as a Presidential intervention to prevent a Chapter 11, we admit that our mind occasionally drifts to thoughts of summer. So to help others who may have similar thoughts, we thought, in honor of summer beginning, we should provide our thoughts as to which alcohols pair best with the purchase of the stocks we cover (actually, we just asked ChatGPT and, given its attitude about intellectual property, we have no fears about just cutting and pas...
- Jonathan Chaplin
Winter for wireless 1Q25
This note explores the drivers of growth and market share shifts in Mobile in 1Q25. Industry net adds, switching, and upgrades all increased sharply. Investors are wrestling with whether the market is healthy or whether the increase in activity reflects a pull-forward of activity from later in the year driven either by consumers’ concerns over the impact of tariffs on handset prices or by unusually aggressive promotions. We suspect that activity was pulled forward (as do two of the carriers)...
- Jonathan Chaplin
Autumn for Broadband 1Q25
In this installment of our Autumn for Broadband series, we provide a quick update on trends in the broadband market based on what we have seen from the companies that have reported so far. Net adds declined from an already weak pace a year ago and are well below the pre-pandemic norm. The expected recovery following the end of ACP didn’t materialize. We ponder whether growth is structurally lower, or whether temporary ACP-related pressures have persisted longer than expected.
- Jonathan Chaplin
T-Mobile 1Q25 Results Review & Model Update: Adds in-line; EBITDA st...
This note covers results in detail, updates to guidance, updates to the model, and trending charts. We remain above consensus for net adds and EBITDA (and our EBITDA estimate is conservative). We continue to think T-Mobile is the best positioned in a market with rising competition given lower ARPU, higher capacity, and great momentum. Buy ($308; +19%).
- Jonathan Chaplin
T-Mobile: Quick thoughts following the 1Q25 call
What’s new: in this note we cover the case for T-Mobile buying a cable asset and what we learned about the odds of this from the call, new insights into T-Mobile’s fiber strategy, what it means for Cable and Fiber assets, further thoughts on the slowdown in growth in the broadband market, important insights into what might be driving the strength in the mobile market, and how T-Mobile will approach tariffs. We will publish a separate comprehensive review of results and model update shortly.
- Russell Waller
KPN (Neutral, TP: €3.9, -3%) Q1 25: Better growth and beat vs consens...
KPN has reported a better set of results in terms of SR trends, with total SR now at +3% y/y in-line with mid-term guidance, but B2C SR remains well below +3% y/y, and we worry about the outlook here given the lack of front book price moves.
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