AT&T: how the business works

• Wireless plans (AT&T, Cricket, AT&T PREPAID)

  Monthly phone and data service. Wireless service brought in $67,384 million in FY2025. AT&T had 120 million Mobility subscribers on Dec 31, 2025: 91 million postpaid (billed after use), 18 million prepaid and 11 million through resellers.

• Phones and other devices

  Equipment revenue was $24,490 million in FY2025, against equipment cost of $25,396 million. It rises in Q4: $8,074 million in Q4 FY2025.

• Home internet (AT&T Fiber, AT&T Internet Air)

  Fiber lines, and home internet over the 5G network. Advanced home internet brought in $9,410 million in FY2025. AT&T Fiber had 12,560 thousand connections on Sep 30, 2026.

• Network services for businesses

  Fiber and connectivity services for companies. Business fiber and advanced connectivity brought in $7,243 million in FY2025, and older transitional services $4,911 million.

• FirstNet

  A nationwide wireless broadband network dedicated to public safety, under a 25-year agreement from 2017. It had 8.7 million connections on Sep 30, 2026.

• Old copper services (Legacy)

  Copper phone lines and older internet. Revenue was $8,472 million in FY2025, down from $12,776 million in FY2023.

• Wireless in Mexico

  Sold under the AT&T and Unefon brands, with 23,333 thousand subscribers on Sep 30, 2026. AT&T agreed on Oct 13, 2026 to sell this business.

1. 1In FY2025 customers paid AT&T $101.2 billion for service and $24.5 billion for phones and other equipment.
2. 2Phones cost $25.4 billion, more than they brought in. Service costs took $25.4 billion, selling and admin $28.9 billion, and impairments and restructuring $0.8 billion.
3. 3Depreciation and amortization, the yearly cost of the network, was $20.9 billion. That left operating income of $24.2 billion, or $19.23 per $100 of revenue.
4. 4Other income added $9.6 billion, including the DIRECTV gain of about $5.6 billion. Interest took $6.8 billion and tax $3.6 billion.
5. 5Outside partners and preferred stock took $1.5 billion. Common shareholders were left with net income of $21.9 billion.

• Spectrum licenses

  Government licenses for the radio frequencies phones use. Licenses were $149,357 million on the balance sheet on Sep 30, 2026, up from $128,148 million on Dec 31, 2025.

• Network

  Fiber, towers, cell equipment and central offices. Capital spending was $20,842 million in FY2025, or 16.6% of revenue.

• People

  About 127,200 employees on Sep 30, 2026, down from 135,700 a year earlier. About 43% were represented by unions at Dec 31, 2025.

• Borrowed money

  AT&T issued $35,870 million of debt in the first nine months of FY2026, partly to fund its EchoStar spectrum purchase.

• Verizon (NYSE: VZ)

  A national wireless rival named in T-Mobile's 10-K. Verizon's FY2025 10-K reports revenue of $138,191 million, operating income of $29,259 million and about 147 million wireless retail connections.

• T-Mobile US (Nasdaq: TMUS)

  Calls itself the second largest US wireless provider by postpaid and prepaid customers. Its FY2025 10-K reports revenue of $88,309 million, operating income of $18,279 million and 142.4 million customers.

• Comcast

  A cable company T-Mobile's 10-K names as a wireless competitor. AT&T's 10-K lists large cable companies as rivals in broadband too.

• Charter

  Also a cable company T-Mobile's 10-K names as a wireless competitor. AT&T's 10-K lists large cable companies as rivals in broadband too.

• AT&T Fiber

  Working

  12,560 thousand connections on Sep 30, 2026, against 10,123 thousand a year earlier

  The count includes a 1.1 million base adjustment from Lumen in Q1 FY2026. Fiber reached 39.7 million locations. AT&T said on Oct 21, 2026 it remains on track to reach over 40 million by the end of 2026.

  Status: Working, on track against what the company said.

• AT&T Internet Air (home internet over 5G)

  Working

  2,231 thousand connections on Sep 30, 2026, against 1,276 thousand a year earlier

  Its revenue per connection was $57.97 in Q3 FY2026, against $62.28 a year earlier.

  Status: Working, on track against what the company said.

• EchoStar spectrum

  New

  $22,650 million paid on Jul 28, 2026

  AT&T bought 600 MHz and 3.45 GHz licenses, and said they add about 50 MHz nationwide. It funded them with term loans and notes.

  Status: New, recently announced.

• Fiber and wireless together

  Mixed

  42.8% of advanced home internet connections had AT&T wireless on Sep 30, 2026

  The share was 43.4% on Dec 31, 2025, before Lumen's customers were added to the count. AT&T says the latest quarter may be revised.

  Status: Mixed, partly on track.

• Closing the copper network

  Early

  Legacy revenue: $1,519 million in Q3 FY2026, against $2,013 million a year earlier

  AT&T said on Oct 21, 2026 it plans to end copper in 50% of wire centers outside California by the end of 2027. It said substantially all would follow by the end of 2029. It also said it expects $4 billion of annual cost savings by the end of 2028.

  Status: Early, too early to judge.

• Fiber for data centers and businesses

  Early

  Business fiber and advanced connectivity: $1,992 million in Q3 FY2026, against $1,832 million a year earlier

  CEO John Stankey said on Oct 21, 2026: "Over 90% of mapped US data centers are within 10 miles of our fiber and over 80% are within 1 mile." He said AWS uses AT&T to connect its locations with high-capacity fiber, and AT&T is working with Microsoft to support its high-capacity needs.

  Status: Early, too early to judge.

Status compares progress with what the company itself said it would do: Working = on track against what the company said; Mixed = partly on track; Behind = behind the company's own plan; New = recently announced; Early = too early to judge.

• Official (GAAP): Diluted EPS, FY2025

  $3.04

  Company's own measure: Adjusted EPS, FY2025

  $2.12

  AT&T leaves out significant items, acquisition amortization, actuarial gains and losses and, from Q1 FY2025, DIRECTV equity income. FY2024 moved from $2.26 to $1.95 under this definition.

• Official (GAAP): Diluted EPS, Q3 FY2026

  $0.12

  Company's own measure: Adjusted EPS, Q3 FY2026

  $0.65

  From $0.13 of continuing EPS, AT&T adds back $0.41 of Mexico impairment, $0.09 of separation charge and $0.02 of other items.

• Official (GAAP): Operating income, FY2025

  $24.2B

  Company's own measure: Adjusted EBITDA, FY2025

  $46.4B

  Earnings before depreciation and amortization, leaving out items AT&T calls non-operational or non-recurring, such as impairments, separation costs and transaction costs. EBITDA in "The numbers" is $45,048 million.

• Official (GAAP): Operating income, FY2025

  $24.2B

  Company's own measure: Adjusted operating income, FY2025

  $25.5B

  Operating income, leaving out the same significant items.

• Official (GAAP): Cash from operating activities, FY2025

  $40.3B

  Company's own measure: Free cash flow, FY2025 (AT&T's definition)

  $16.6B

  AT&T subtracts capital spending and vendor financing payments, and removes DIRECTV distributions net of cash taxes. The free cash flow in "The numbers" is $19,442 million. AT&T announced this definition on Dec 3, 2024, for reporting beginning with Q1 2025, so years are not compared across definitions.

• Official (GAAP): Capital expenditures, FY2025

  $20.8B

  Company's own measure: Capital investment, FY2025

  $22.0B

  Capital expenditures plus vendor financing payments of $1,181 million.

• Official (GAAP): Total debt, Sep 30, 2026

  $159.6B

  Company's own measure: Net debt, Sep 30, 2026 (AT&T's definition)

  $149.8B

  Total debt plus $1.2 billion of held-for-sale debt, minus cash and time deposits over 90 days. AT&T states this as 3.13 times adjusted EBITDA, against 2.53 times on Dec 31, 2025.

• Official (GAAP): Wireless service revenue, Advanced Connectivity, Q3 FY2026

  $17.8B

  Company's own measure: Postpaid phone subscribers, Sep 30, 2026

  75.3 million

  Subscribers billed after use, on phones, as AT&T counts them. 75,283 thousand, against 73,801 thousand a year earlier.

• Official (GAAP): Wireless service revenue, Advanced Connectivity, Q3 FY2026

  $17.8B

  Company's own measure: Postpaid phone revenue per subscriber, Q3 FY2026

  58.9 dollars a month

  ARPU: subscriber revenue divided by average subscribers, shown per month. $58.90, against $56.64 a year earlier.

• Official (GAAP)

  No official figure measures this; it is the company's own operating measure.

  Company's own measure: Postpaid phone churn, Q3 FY2026

  0.92%

  Subscribers who canceled in a month divided by subscribers at the start of that month, averaged over the period. It was 0.92% in Q3 FY2025 as well, and 0.78% in Q3 FY2024.

• Official (GAAP): Advanced home internet revenue, Q3 FY2026

  $3.0B

  Company's own measure: AT&T Fiber connections, Sep 30, 2026

  12.6 million

  Home fiber connections as AT&T counts them. The figure includes a 1.1 million base adjustment from Lumen in Q1 FY2026.

These are the company's own measures, defined by the company. They are not comparable across companies, and they are not added together. Each sits beside the nearest official (GAAP) figure.

Learn: Non-GAAP measures: what a company's "adjusted" numbers leave out

• Total debt was $159,627 million on Sep 30, 2026, up from $136,100 million on Dec 31, 2025. Net debt = debt − cash of $10,767 million (Cityfort calculation from Q3 FY2026 10-Q).
• Interest expense was $1,979 million in Q3 FY2026, against $1,700 million in Q3 FY2025. AT&T's Q3 FY2026 10-Q says it expects interest expense to stay elevated after its spectrum purchase.
• Why debt rose: in the first nine months of FY2026, AT&T paid $22,650 million for EchoStar spectrum and $5,756 million for Lumen's fiber. It spent $7,472 million on its own shares. It issued $35,870 million of debt and repaid $10,172 million.
• The debt figure includes finance leases. It leaves out $1.2 billion of Mexico debt held for sale, and operating leases, of which $18,520 million were noncurrent. FirstNet payments, tower obligations and sold receivables also sit outside it.
• Shareholders' money of $122,754 million includes $15,979 million of noncontrolling interests. Debt to equity = $159,627 million ÷ $122,754 million (Cityfort calculation from Q3 FY2026 10-Q). The operating cash flow figure is a Cityfort calculation from Q3 FY2026 financial trends schedule.
• $9,483 million of debt was due within one year. A $12,000 million credit line was undrawn. AT&T's debt terms limit net debt to 3.75 times EBITDA.

Officers and directors (as a group), shares

0.1%

From the company's proxy statement (DEF 14A), later Schedule 13G filings and the share counts on its latest annual or quarterly report. Each holder row shows the date of its own filing.

Learn: How to read a proxy statement (DEF 14A): Nvidia's 2026 proxy · Form 4 insider filings: who files, the codes and the footnotes

Auditor

Ernst & Young LLP, since 1999

Auditor changes

None in the period covered

Audit qualifications

None reported

Related-party dealings

Two executives have relatives employed by AT&T subsidiaries. John Stankey's daughter earned about $174,671 in 2025, and Jennifer Biry's stepdaughter about $141,090. Executive officers are prohibited from hedging AT&T stock.

Credit rating

No public credit rating found

Share price

$21.83

Market value (market cap)

$147.1B

P/E

11.8×

Source: T historical quotes, Nasdaq (close Nov 4, 2026); Form 10-Q, Q3 FY2026 (quarter ended Sep 30, 2026); Financial and Operational Trends (trending schedule), Q3 FY2026: Q1 FY2024 to Q3 FY2026 and 2 more