- CEO Stankey said the One Big Beautiful Bill Act promises "a pipeline of mid-band spectrum"
- He said the bill is more significant than The Telecommunications Act of 1996
- Stankey wants the uncertainty around tariffs to "dissipate"
AT&T’s CEO John Stankey sang the praises of Trump administration’s signature “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (BBB) legislation during his company’s second quarter earnings call.
The chief executive claimed that the bill was “more significant” than the storied Telecommunications Act of 1996, noting that Brendan Carr’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is back in business.
Stankey also said that the BBB promises “a pipeline of mid-band spectrum." The FCC is tasked by the bill with auctioning part of the upper C-band (3.98-4.2 GHz) — a move very much backed by AT&T.
“The one big beautiful bill act is great policy for American workers.” the CEO proclaimed on the call.
Tariffs, immigration and the pre- and post-paid pipeline
Of course, the operator — like every other business and consumer in the world — is still not exactly sure what is happening with the Trump admin’s tariffs yet.
“We’re a small animal in a larger economy,” the CEO noted during the question-and-answer session. “I would really like some of uncertainty around tariffs to begin to dissipate,” the head noted. There’s been a pull-forward on the consumer side because of tariffs, he noted.
“If you look at what’s gone in the pre-paid [pay-as-you-go phones] market this quarter I do believe some of that is down to immigration,” Stankey said.
AT&T did beat estimates on postpaid (monthly contract phones) additions with added 401,000 postpaid wireless postpaid phone adds compared to 419,000 postpaid adds in the same period last year. Comparatively, Verizon, which reported its earnings earlier this week, lost 9,000 postpaid phone connections in Q2 but gained 50,000 in prepaid.
The carrier reported net income for the quarter up at $4.9 billion compared to $3.9 billion a year ago. This was on revenue of $30.8 billion for the quarter.
AT&T’s shares fell despite the positive Q2 report, down 0.24% to $27.35, at press time.