NEW YORK, June 24, 2026, 15:05 EDT
- AT&T shares slipped $0.34 to $22.48. Verizon and T-Mobile traded down too.
- AT&T says its fiber network in East Cleveland now serves over 9,000 homes and businesses. The company expects to reach more than 12,000 locations later this year.
- The company is getting regulatory resistance as it moves to shut down some legacy phone services in parts of the U.S.
AT&T Inc. slipped $0.34 to $22.48 by Wednesday afternoon in New York. That move retraced some of Tuesday’s 3.21% gain, when shares finished at $22.81.
Verizon Communications dropped $0.92 to finish at $45.82, while T-Mobile US moved down $1.40 to $183.17. Both of the big U.S. wireless stocks ended the day in the red.
AT&T on June 23 said its AT&T Fiber wired internet now covers over 9,000 new homes and business spots in East Cleveland, Ohio. The company is working with the city on a public-private build. When finished later this year, the project is supposed to reach more than 12,000 spots.
AT&T, JobsOhio and the City of East Cleveland put almost $6 million into the project. AT&T put up $3 million, JobsOhio added a $1.9 million grant, and East Cleveland contributed $1 million in public money.
AT&T will roll out its fiber service in East Cleveland, according to David Lewis, president of AT&T’s Heartland States. Lewis said the investment brings “more fiber availability, more capacity” to the area. JobsOhio
AT&T’s local fiber news lands ahead of its second-quarter report, due out before the New York Stock Exchange opens July 22. The company has scheduled its earnings call for 8:30 a.m. ET that day.
AT&T posted a gain of 294,000 postpaid phone subscribers in the first quarter, topping the 272,000 average analyst estimate from FactSet. Revenue increased roughly 3% to $31.5 billion.
AT&T is spending because “data is going to be the revenue of the future,” said Brian Mulberry, chief market strategist at Zacks Investment Management after the first-quarter report. Reuters
AT&T and T-Mobile kept up subsidies on Apple’s new iPhones in Q1 as both carriers chased subscribers. Verizon has put more money into its tech and fiber.
AT&T’s move away from its old network might not happen as fast as it hopes. The company asked the Federal Communications Commission for permission to stop offering operator-dialed long-distance calls in Alaska by July 31, according to Broadband Breakfast on June 23. This operator-dialed service uses a live operator to place long-distance calls. AT&T reported handling fewer than 820 such calls in the last year.
California moves to block AT&T from cutting old copper wire phone service for new customers. The California Public Utilities Commission told a U.S. court and the FCC to turn down AT&T’s push to end the option. State officials say AT&T still has carrier of last resort rules and must keep basic phone service where those rules are in effect.
AT&T puts the cost of keeping up its copper network at $1 billion each year, even though it only reaches 3% of households across its California operations. State officials say the company’s shutdown plan would touch areas served by 360 wire centers and hit around 184,000 homes and 15,000 businesses in June 2027.
AT&T California state president Susan Santana said in May that the company planned a $19 billion network investment in California running through 2030, shifting from copper. AT&T said customers would keep phone and 911 service.
AT&T is guiding for second-quarter free cash flow of $4 billion to $4.5 billion. That’s short of the $4.6 billion analyst estimate from Visible Alpha in April.
