NEW YORK, June 19, 2026, 10:03 (EDT)
- AT&T closed Thursday down 1.9% at $22.01, leaving the stock lower for every session of the holiday-shortened week.
- U.S. stock markets are closed Friday for Juneteenth, making Monday’s reopening the next test for the shares.
- California regulators asked a court and the FCC to reject AT&T’s bid to stop offering traditional copper-wire phone service to new customers in parts of the state.
AT&T Inc. shares go into the Juneteenth break near a June low, after a four-day slide and a fresh push by California regulators to keep the company tied to its legacy phone network.
That matters now because Friday is not a trading day. The New York Stock Exchange lists Juneteenth National Independence Day as a 2026 market holiday, so Thursday’s $22.01 close is the last live mark before investors return Monday. AT&T fell about 5.5% from Monday’s close through Thursday.
The state fight cuts into a core part of the AT&T story: moving capital away from old copper lines and into fiber broadband and 5G wireless. “Carrier of last resort,” the term at the center of the dispute, means a legal duty to provide basic service, even where newer networks may exist.
The California Public Utilities Commission said AT&T had not shown all affected customers would have workable replacement service. AT&T says the copper network costs about $1 billion a year to maintain and now serves only 3% of households in its California territory. The company wants to discontinue legacy copper-based residential and business service across parts of 360 wire centers from June 2027, affecting about 184,000 residential and 15,000 business customers; it declined to comment to Reuters on the CPUC filings.
The trading tape was not kind. AT&T lost 1.92% on Thursday, following drops of 1.23%, 0.56% and 3.11% earlier in the week, according to historical market data. Verizon also fell Thursday, while T-Mobile edged higher, keeping the peer read-through mixed rather than broadly defensive.
The selloff gives a harder edge to what had been a steady strategy message from Dallas. AT&T has told investors it remains on track with 2026 and multi-year targets, including second-quarter free cash flow of $4.0 billion to $4.5 billion. Free cash flow is the cash left after operating needs and capital spending, and it is central to dividends, debt reduction and buybacks.
The company also has a finance handoff under way. AT&T said Pascal Desroches will retire as chief financial officer at year-end, with Jennifer Biry becoming deputy CFO on July 6 and CFO on Jan. 1, 2027. The CFO is the executive responsible for the company’s financial planning, capital allocation and reporting.
Competition is not easing while AT&T deals with regulators. Verizon said this week it would simplify wireless plans, drop activation and upgrade fees and offer loyalty rewards as it fights AT&T and T-Mobile in a mature U.S. market. Verizon consumer executive Alfonso Villanueva told Reuters the aim was a value proposition for “every cohort.” Reuters
AT&T’s defense is bundling. In April, CEO John Stankey said the company had its “best first quarter ever” for advanced connectivity internet customer additions and argued AT&T can sell “fiber and 5G” from one provider. The company reported 294,000 postpaid phone net additions, meaning monthly-billed phone customers, and 584,000 advanced connectivity internet net additions in the first quarter. AT&T Newsroom
But the risk case is plain. If California or the FCC forces AT&T to keep spending on copper longer than planned, cost savings could slip. If Verizon and T-Mobile promotions pressure prices, the wireless cash engine gets less room. And if low Earth orbit satellite networks, satellites flying closer to Earth to provide broadband, take even a small bite from rural or fringe broadband demand, AT&T’s fiber buildout assumptions face more scrutiny; Oppenheimer’s Timothy Horan recently downgraded AT&T to Perform from Outperform, citing longer-term broadband subscriber risk.
The week ahead is therefore less about a single headline than follow-through. With no Friday trade, investors will reopen the book Monday around a stock that has already broken lower this week, while the next scheduled company catalyst sits farther out: AT&T’s second-quarter earnings call on July 22.
