AT&T gains 324,000 new subscribers in the face of Verizon losing 289,000

As promised, AT&T announced its results for Q1 (the first three months) of 2025 and things are looking great on the postpaid subscribers front.

The carrier surpassed Wall Street expectations for wireless subscriber growth in the first quarter, driven by consistent demand for its bundled offerings that combine high-speed fiber internet with 5G mobile services. The company added 324,000 net monthly bill-paying wireless phone subscribers, outpacing FactSet's projection of 258,300 for the period.

FactSet is widely used by analysts, asset managers, and financial institutions for its data coverage and reliable forecasts. Well, this time they got it wrong, but, boy, is AT&T happy about it or not!



Meanwhile, as we reported earlier, Verizon did an oopsie: the carrier announced that 289,000 postpaid phone customers left.

After reporting a higher-than-usual customer churn rate in January, AT&T introduced enhanced promotions for the latest iPhones, accepting trade-ins regardless of the device's condition. That played out well, it seems.

AT&T's Chief Financial Officer, Pascal Desroches, noted that device upgrades have exceeded expectations since early April, when reciprocal tariffs were announced. If this trend continues, it could accelerate customer demand that would normally occur later in the year. Typically, telecom providers see an uptick in device upgrades during the second half of the year, in line with the release of new iPhone models.

Well, the world's changing and with it – peoples' phone upgrading habits.

Despite the positive news and the promise of a bright future, AT&T's stock gave up earlier gains and remained mostly unchanged in morning trading. Total revenue for the quarter rose by 2% to $30.6 billion, slightly above analysts' estimate of $30.35 billion, based on data from another research company.

AT&T reported that over 40% of its fiber customers also subscribed to its wireless plans. Edward Jones senior communications analyst Dave Heger commented that subscriber growth is likely to continue, particularly as more customers shift to premium wireless plans.

AT&T also drew attention with its January rollout of the AT&T Guarantee, a policy that offers bill credits in the event of network disruptions.

Customers get a credit for a full day of service if a fiber outage lasts over 20 minutes or a wireless outage exceeds an hour. This applies to both residential and business users, with small businesses also getting technician support when needed. As the first major carrier to offer such a promise, AT&T hopes to stand out in a market where outages have become increasingly common. The company believes this move could significantly boost customer loyalty.