AT&T convergence strategy resonates in Q1

AT&T CEO John Stankey ( pictured) has long-touted convergence of fibre and wireless services as a key differentiator for the company, which was borne out in its Q1 2026 results. Total internet adds of 584,000 were split evenly between fibre and fixed wireless access Internet Air subscribers. Stankey said those additions marked its best Q1 results and were the sixth consecutive quarter with over half a million consumer and business net additions. The CEO said AT&T reaches over 37 million customer locations with fibre and is on track to hit more than 60 million locations by the end of the decade “We reach more than 90 million customer locations across the country with our advanced internet services over either fibre or 5G,” he said. “We believe this provides us with more scalable reach and converge connectivity than any of our peers, including a meaningful scale and performance advantage in fibre.” On the wireless side, AT&T added 294,000 post-paid phone net additions in the quarter. Analysts polled by FactSet predicted post-paid additions of 272,000. As more customers buy both wireless and internet from AT&T, Stankey said he expects lower churn and stronger account growth going forward. Stankey said on the earnings call 42 per cent of its home internet customers also choose AT&T wireless, but “when excluding the transaction with Lumen, this convergence rate approached 45 percent on an organic basis during the first quarter”. “This is more than a three-percentage point increase compared to last year, which is our fastest ever year-over year convergence growth rate,” he explained. AT&T is now reporting its results under three new segments: advanced connectivity, legacy and Latin America. The advanced connectivity segment, which includes domestic 5G and fibre services, reported revenue of $28.5 billion, which represents a 4.7 per cent increase year-over-year.  Wireless service revenue reached $16.9 billion, up 1.7 per cent, driven by growth in retail wireless subscribers in under-penetrated categories and converged accounts. Equipment revenues jumped 9.3 per cent to $5.6 billion on higher device sales volumes. Revenue increased by 2.9 per cent to $31.5 billion while net income of $4.2 billion was down from $4.7 billion. Lumen Stankey said AT&T’s $5.75 billion deal to buy Lumen’s  consumer fibre  business closed on 2 February, which added 1.1 million fibre customers and over 4 m