New York, May 21, 2026, 16:04 EDT
- AT&T climbed 1.6% late Thursday, outpacing Verizon, T-Mobile, and an S&P 500 proxy.
- The carrier rolled out a $15-a-month wireless plan that can be customized, and kept pushing to drop its California copper network.
- The risk is the cheaper plan could hit revenue per user, and the regulatory fight in California might take a while.
AT&T Inc. climbed late Thursday, with shares finishing ahead of other top wireless stocks after the company rolled out a new lower-cost wireless plan and pushed harder to switch California customers from its old copper lines. The shares traded at $25.33, up 39.5 cents, or 1.6%, trading near the top of a $24.75 to $25.38 range. Verizon was up 0.7%, T-Mobile barely moved, and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust was up 0.2%.
AT&T wants to convince Wall Street it can gain budget wireless subscribers without kicking off a price war. The company is also working to move customers off its old copper phone network and sign up more homes and businesses for fiber service that runs internet over glass lines with light signals.
AT&T is rolling out its Build-A-Plan service on May 27, starting at $15 per month plus taxes and fees. Customers can change features every month. The offer covers one line and needs an unlocked phone that works with eSIM. AT&T says this is the lowest starting price against T-Mobile and Verizon. “Customers want plans that fit their lives,” said AT&T Consumer chief Jenifer Robertson. AT&T Newsroom
U.S. markets kept normal hours on Thursday. Regular NYSE trading is from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern. The exchange says it will close for Memorial Day on Monday, May 25, 2026.
Roger Entner, who runs Recon Analytics, said AT&T’s offer is a “straightforward price for a simple product,” talking to Light Reading. It’s meant for people who don’t want the full premium bundle. The $15 plan comes with unlimited talk and text, plus 1 GB of data. Getting more data or using hotspot costs more. Light Reading
AT&T CEO John Stankey stuck to that message at a J.P. Morgan conference this week. “The best returning networks are ones that are full,” Stankey told investors, making clear AT&T is after more usage and more types of customers for the networks it already runs. AT&T Investors
AT&T filed a lawsuit against California regulators on Wednesday as it tries to stop adding new customers to its copper-wire phone service, Reuters said. The company wants a judge to allow it to stop the legacy offering. AT&T claims state rules force it to spend $1 billion a year to maintain century-old copper lines that now only reach 3% of California households on its network.
AT&T said it will put $19 billion into California fiber and wireless networks by 2030, targeting fiber for over 4 million more homes and businesses and 1,200+ new cell sites. AT&T California president Susan Santana called it the company’s “largest-ever California investment commitment”. She said phone and 911 service will stay up through the transition. AT&T Newsroom
AT&T’s pitch to investors still hangs on cash flow. The company in April posted $31.5 billion in first-quarter revenue and $2.5 billion in free cash flow, or what’s left after capex and what funds dividends, buybacks, and paying down debt. Management is standing by its outlook for over $18 billion in free cash flow by 2026, a $1.11 per share annual dividend, and roughly $8 billion of buybacks.
The deal has its issues. The $15 entry tier may drag down ARPU if users stick to the lowest price and skip add-ons. California is still a worry—any court or regulator action that delays the copper shutdown could stick AT&T with costs for maintaining a network it says has shrinking household use.
Investors saw Thursday’s news as positive but didn’t view it as a game-changer. The focus shifts to Build-A-Plan’s ability to attract new customers while avoiding a discount war with Verizon or T-Mobile. Watch to see if AT&T’s California move leads to cost cuts instead of another round of tough regulatory costs.
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