Wireless Internet

AT&T released financial results for the fourth quarter and full year of 2025. Highlights for Q4 include:

• 283,000 AT&T Fiber net adds and 221,000 AT&T Internet Air net adds, representing more than half a million combined advanced home internet net additions for the second consecutive quarter
• Consumer Wireline fiber revenues of $2.2 billion, up 13.6 percent year over year

Highlights for the full year include:

Some broadband topics that interested me in January: 

Much of the United States is digging out after this weekend’s historic Winter Storm Fern—and that means the major mobile operators are, too. Here's how AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon handled the preparation and aftermath of the event, which saw snow, sleet and freezing rain hit across the country from Texas to Maine: 

In a letter to state broadband offices, Elon Musk’s SpaceX suggested that it may be “untenable” for low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite internet providers, such as Starlink, to participate in the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program unless they receive exemptions from certain contract requirements.

As Venezuela and Iran grapple with immense political tumult, Starlink has become a lifeline for internet access. Iranian activists have disseminated images of troops suppressing protestors by connecting to Starlink, while Venezuelans are relying on the service to get information on President Nicolás Maduro’s removal.

On January 20, representatives of the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA) met with a policy advisor to Federal Communications Commissioner Anna Gomez to discuss a concern about Charter Communications.

The House Communications Committee approved the Expanding Appalachia’s Broadband Access Act (HR 2474). The bill directs the Government Accountability Office to study whether satellite broadband can be effectively incorporated into broadband projects supported by the Appalachian Regional Commission. The study will assess the capacity and cost-effectiveness of satellite broadband to support businesses and economic development in rural and distressed Appalachian communities. This legislation was introduced by Rep. Dave Taylor (R-OH).

Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’ space technology company, plans to enter the satellite connectivity arena with a new constellation targeting data centers, enterprises, and government customers.

Cellular carriers seem to be on a winning streak with federal regulators. In the Big Beautiful Bill, cellular carriers were able to insert language in the bill that mandates the Federal Communications Commission to auction 800 MHz of mid-range spectrum. That’s going to force the FCC to carve the spectrum from other uses, and it seems likely that most of the spectrum that goes to auction will be won by the big cell carriers.

The wireless industry has long complained that high regulatory fees, strict regulations on tower placement and aesthetics, and other rules imposed by state and local governments are needlessly delaying the spread of modern infrastructure, especially in rural areas. Now, the wireless industry claims, local regulations on artificial intelligence (AI) systems could be contributing to the problem. In recent comments to the Federal Communications Commission, wireless companies and associations supported FCC proposals to speed up state and local approvals of wireless infrastructure construction.