One Big Beautiful Bill Act Fuels AT&T's Fiber Densification

AT&T Inc. T is focusing more on fiber densification, courtesy of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that Congress recently passed. The bill is likely to spur investment and boost economic development by unlocking significant mid- and low-band spectrum, which is critical to expanding 5G capacity and coverage, particularly in rural and suburban areas. The spectrum governance and AI scaling strategies incorporated into the law are likely to help the FCC set the ball rolling for new auctions for key bands: 600MHz, 3.1–3.45GHz and parts of the 6GHz band.

This is expected to cater to the burgeoning broadband demand, bringing the United States to the forefront of digital innovation with continuous infrastructure investments and centralized control. AT&T aims to capitalize on this huge opportunity by investing more in next-generation networks and accelerating fiber deployment to an additional 1 million locations annually starting in 2026. Backed by enhanced tax incentives for capital investment and a renewed spectrum policy that supports long-term network deployment, the company expects to expand into hitherto underserved rural communities that had remained elusive.  

An integrated fiber expansion strategy is expected to enhance broadband connectivity for both enterprise and consumer markets, while steady 5G deployments are likely to boost end-user experience. AT&T plans to deploy 5G+ service in various stadiums, arenas and practice facilities across the country, along with various company-owned retail stores, to revolutionize the shopping experience. In addition, the company aims to launch 5G+ in several airports while offering secure 5G facilities to the FirstNet network. The acquisition of mid-band spectrum (C-Band) further offers significant bandwidth with better propagation characteristics for optimum coverage in both rural and urban areas.

Other Telecom Carriers Focusing on Fiber

Verizon Communications Inc. VZ continues to deploy the latest 4G LTE Advanced technologies to deliver faster peak data speeds and capacity for customers, driven by customer-focused planning, disciplined engineering and constant strategic investment. Verizon has been aggressively expanding its fiber-optic networks to support 4G LTE and 5G wireless standards as well as wireline connections. The company remains focused on making necessary capital expenditures due to the continued expansion of 5G mmWave in new and existing markets, the densification of the 4G LTE wireless network to cater to huge traffic demands across multiple verticals and the continued deployment of fiber infrastructure. The buyout of Frontier Communications has further accelerated Verizon’s fiber Internet services nationwide.

T-Mobile US Inc. TMUS is steadily investing in fiber broadband expansion to reach 12-15 million fiber customers by 2030. T-Mobile has launched the Fiber Home Internet service plans with several enticing features. The services include Fiber 500, Fiber 1G, Fiber 2G and Fiber Founders Club plans. The plans mostly share similar features, with Internet speed being the primary differentiating factor. Apart from the price guarantee, the plans include unlimited data, super-fast symmetrical speed, WiFi 6 router and more. T-Mobile is gaining from healthy growth in service revenues driven by industry-leading postpaid net customer additions.

T’s Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates

T has surged 50.8% over the past year, outperforming the industry’s growth of 26.7%.

From a valuation standpoint, T trades at a forward price-to-sales ratio of 1.63, below the industry.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for T’s earnings for 2025 has been static over the past 60 days.

T currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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