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- Vikash Harlalka
BEAD: Fiber slips further; FWA gains some ground
Georgia, New Mexico and Oklahoma have reported their BEAD proposals. We are also including the numbers released by Washington yesterday. While fiber remains the dominant technology, its share slipped further. FWA and satellite increased their share of locations. In this note, we analyze the results, compare them with estimates from our Broadband Insights database, and its implications for broadband companies.
- Jan Frederik Slijkerman
- Jeroen van den Broek
- Jesse Norcross
- Nadège Tillier
- Timothy Rahill
- Philip Burnett
The EchoStar Deal: Impacts to AT&T
We covered our first reaction to the deal before the AT&T call this morning. Blair covered the policy implications here. In this note, we follow up with a detailed analysis of the impact to AT&T. While the deal is very modestly accretive to AT&T free cash flow over time, it reduces share repurchases beyond 2027 and is therefore a touch dilutive to long-run free cash flow per share. The small decline seen by T equity today is generally in line with the reduction in value from lower free cash flow...
- Vikash Harlalka
BEAD: More state proposals; Fiber still dominant but Satellite gaining...
We now have BEAD proposals from 12 states. While fiber still remains the dominant technology, its share of locations has decreased as Satellite gains more ground. In this note, we analyze the results, compare them with estimates from our Broadband Insights database, and its implications for broadband companies.
- Philip Burnett
- Blair Levin
SATS/T Reach Agreement: What Will FCC Do Next?
This morning, SATS and T announced an agreement by which SATS would sell spectrum to T for $23 billion and enter into a hybrid MVNO deal. Our New Street colleagues discuss the financial implications in a separate note, but in this note we discuss the implications for policy and the current FCC proceedings.
- 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
- Vikash Harlalka
- Vikash Harlalka
ATUS 2Q25 Quick Take: Subs beat but EBITDA missed; Guidance unchanged
EBITDA missed expectations again but guidance for the year remains unchanged. The miss was driven by lower broadband revenue and higher other operating expenses. The guidance implies that EBITDA will grow by at least 3% in the back half of the year. This seems unlikely on the surface, but management has implemented a 5% workforce reduction in 2Q which they expect to help meet EBITDA guidance for the year.
- 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.
- Jonathan Chaplin
AT&T Model Update
We have updated the model following results. Changes to the segments are not material, but changes to capex, cash taxes and free cash flow in light of the OBBBA are. For thoughts following the call, click here. For a review of results, click here. (Rating: Buy; TP: $32; Total Return: +20%).
- Jonathan Chaplin
AT&T quick thoughts following the call 2Q25
In this note we cover evolving thoughts on the implications of the new Cable MVNO, the implications of AT&T’s revised capital allocation decisions, new insights on the pace of fiber deployment, a shift in the FWA strategy, the implications of both for cable, comments on spectrum purchases, the implications for EchoStar, and an early take on mobile and broadband market growth.
- Jonathan Chaplin
AT&T 2Q25 Quick Take: Results strong; FCF guide increased, but less th...
Postpaid phone adds beat estimates, which will come as a relief following Verizon’s results. Service revenue, EBITDA, EPS, and FCF were all slightly better than expected. The Company increased FCF guidance following OBBBA, but by less than some had hoped. In addition, the Company did not commit to increasing share repurchases with the increased FCF.
- Vikash Harlalka
- 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.
- 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.
- 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%.
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