Wireless service is cheaper than ever, but carriers are leaving money on the table

The simple story about wireless is a price war: multi-year price locks, free lines, cable carriers underselling the mobile network operators, and fixed wireless exceeding everyone's expectations. A more complex story is revealed by the MNOs' detailed earnings results. The core price of connectivity has been flat for nearly four years while household income has increased. Net net? The carriers turned themselves into discount storefronts for the services they sell. Reported wireless revenue per line looks like it climbed. Blended across AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon, postpaid phone average revenue per user rose from $53.22 in the second half of 2022 to $56.37 in early 2026, a roughly 6% rise. But Verizon, the carrier driving most of the 6% increase, books streaming and cloud perks inside its reported ARPU. Its former consumer chief revenue officer stated publicly in March 2025 that 15% of wireless service revenue now comes from non-connectivity services, a figure that was zero when myPlan launched in May 2023 and is closer to 17% today. Strip the perks out on the same ramp, and the picture inverts. Blended core connectivity ARPU went from $53.22 to $52.76, flat to slightly down in nominal dollars across three and a half years. 

[Roger Entner is an analyst and the founder of Recon Analytics]