Has AT&T Stock Become A Different Bet?
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AT&T (T) stock trades at 11.5 times earnings, against 21.9 for the S&P 500. That uses reported profit, which absorbed a $2.6 billion non-cash impairment charge and a roughly $800 million employee separation charge in the third quarter. A low multiple still buys a particular business, so shareholders need to know what that business is, and here the company’s priorities have shifted. On its fiscal Q4 2024 call in January 2025, management talked up its postpaid phone net additions, its net gain in phone subscribers. Now it emphasizes something else. So what has taken the place of the phone count?
What Does AT&T Emphasize Now Instead?
AT&T now emphasizes converged customers, referring to the households and businesses that buy both wireless and home internet from the company. On the fiscal Q3 2026 call on October 21, 2026, management named growing converged customer relationships as one of its core priorities. The company added approximately 350,000 converged accounts in that quarter. By the end of the period, nearly 43% of its advanced home internet customers also had a postpaid wireless account with AT&T.
Phone additions have not disappeared from the call, but they no longer stand on their own. Management still gives a separate count, but it now also folds them into a combined figure: AT&T added over 1 million Advanced Connectivity subscribers from fiber, fixed wireless and postpaid phone. In January 2025 the phone count was a headline of its own, set beside service revenue growth.
AT&T’s Home Internet Is Outgrowing Its Wireless Service
In fiscal Q3 2026, advanced home internet service revenues grew more than 23% from a year earlier, compared with 5% for wireless service revenues. That makes home internet growth more than four times the pace of wireless.
Customer additions point the same way. AT&T added 696,000 advanced home internet customers in the quarter, compared with 379,000 postpaid phone net adds. Management said momentum within its Advanced Connectivity segment continues to drive its consolidated growth. AT&T’s revenue grew 3.5% over the twelve months to September 30, 2026, compared with 2.0% in the twelve months before.
Is AT&T’s New Emphasis Reassuring For Holders?
The faster growth is reassuring, but AT&T is paying for part of it with a lower price per fiber customer. Fiber ARPU, the average revenue per fiber customer, declined 4% from a year earlier in fiscal Q3 2026. Management said the reasons include introductory pricing and a growing base of converged accounts that earn discounts.
Management expects a similar decline in the fourth quarter. It also said on the call that it does not want to focus on that measure exclusively, pointing instead to service revenue growth and customer account growth.
AT&T now measures its progress by customers who buy both services rather than by phone additions alone, and it is giving up some revenue per fiber customer to win them. Fiber revenue per customer and the number of converged accounts added are the figures to watch when AT&T reports its fourth quarter, expected in January 2027.
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