AT&T says Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act will help accelerate fiber growth
- AT&T views the Trump administration’s Big Beautiful Bill Act as a positive force that will enable it to expand its fiber network.
- The telco plans to reach 1M additional fiber locations annually starting next year
- AT&T will reveal specific capital plans in its upcoming second-quarter earnings call
AT&T has heralded the Trump administration’s Big Beautiful Bill Act, which had been passed before the July 4 holiday as a means to help enhance the reach of its fiber broadband network more effectively.
Starting in 2026, AT&T said it will make investments in its network to reach an additional 1 million fiber customer locations annually.
“The One Big Beautiful Bill Act will spur investment, maintain U.S. leadership in innovation, and create economic opportunity nationwide,” the company said in a release after the bill was passed.
Besides fiber, AT&T sees potential to expand its wireless network with a new pipeline of midband spectrum.
“This bill also creates a pipeline of midband spectrum that will help meet soaring consumer demand and keep the U.S. technologically competitive with other countries,” AT&T said. “Paired with the tax provisions in the bill, this legislation paves the way for the stated goals laid out by FCC Chairman Brendan Carr: unleashing high-speed infrastructure builds and restoring America’s global lead in wireless technology through smart policy.”
AT&T will provide an update on the expected impact of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act on its 2025 and long-term financial outlook and capital allocation plans when it releases its second quarter results, scheduled for release on July 23, 2025.
Broadening wireline boundaries
AT&T is pursuing its fiber expansion strategy with a multi-pronged effort of organic investments and targeted acquisitions.
Between 2020 and 2024, AT&T deployed thousands of miles of fiber infrastructure to connect communities and businesses and invested more than $145 billion, primarily in its wireless and wireline networks.
A recent key element of AT&T’s fiber expansion strategy is its pending acquisition of Lumen’s consumer fiber business.
Through this acquisition, AT&T will gain access to Lumen's substantial fiber construction capabilities within its incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) footprint and plans to accelerate the pace of fiber deployment in these territories.
Another side benefit of the Lumen fiber deal is that it will enable AT&T to expand its wireless service reach, including the sale of broadband and wireless bundles, in new markets. In the markets where AT&T offers fiber broadband, it captures approximately 500 basis points of incremental market share.
John Stankey, CEO of AT&T, said when the Lumen acquisition was announced that it “will allow us to accelerate fiber access to millions of new customer locations outside our traditional wireline operating region.”
Having reached this milestone, the service provider now expects to reach approximately 60 million total fiber locations by the end of 2030, roughly doubling the number of AT&T Fiber locations currently available.
“This is roughly double the amount of AT&T fiber locations today,” Stankey said. “We're looking forward to accelerating an efficient fiber build engine as we expand our award-winning AT&T fiber service.”
Quarterly fiber rising
While AT&T won’t announce its second-quarter earnings until July 23, it is likely to see a boost in fiber broadband customers, a trend that was evident in its first-quarter results.
The telco’s ongoing fiber gains have come at a time when cable operators, which had enjoyed a long-standing lead in the broadband race, have seen their hold slipping in recent quarters. Comcast and Charter, which remain the top two U.S. broadband providers in terms of total subscribers, both experienced broadband losses during the quarter. Comcast lost 199,000 subscribers in the first quarter while Charter lost 60,000 broadband subscribers.
One of the key milestones AT&T reached after the first quarter closed was its passing of 30 million locations with fiber in June. The company stated that achieving this goal gives it confidence in meeting its target of reaching approximately 60 million total fiber locations by the end of 2030.
During the first quarter, AT&T added more than 261,000 fiber subscribers, up from 252,000 in the same period last year. Total broadband net additions reached 137,000, marking the seventh consecutive quarter of broadband growth and the second successive quarter exceeding 100,000 net additions.
Since 2020, AT&T has expanded its fiber network to 11 million additional locations.
“If you think about it, since the second quarter of 2020, we more than doubled our AT&T fiber subscriber base to over 9 million subscribers,” Stankey said.
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Sean Buckley
Sean is responsible for establishing and executing the editorial strategy of Lightwave across its website, email newsletters, events, and other information products.