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Can AT&T (T) turn higher ARPU into bigger cash flow? AT&T's improving wireless pricing environment, fiber expansion, and strong free cash flow support service revenue growth, while heavy debt, capital requirements, and declining legacy services remain key challenges. Published September 28, 2026 at 8:11 pm EDT On September 21, BNP Paribas upgraded AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) to Outperform from Neutral, raising its price target from $26 to $30. The firm highlighted a more rational competitive landscape in the U.S. wireless sector, characterized by reduced handset subsidies and well-received rate increases. According to BNP, these tailwinds should accelerate AT&T's wireless service revenue growth in the second half of 2026. The analyst notes that sustained expansion in average revenue per user (ARPU) could generate a couple of billion dollars in incremental annual revenue, EBITDA, and free cash flow over time. Following the announcement, AT&T shares rose 1% in premarket trading to $25.57. Bull case: expanding fiber footprint and high-margin connectivity. The bull case centers on AT&T Inc.'s recurring, high-margin connectivity momentum validating BNP's thesis. In Q2 2026, AT&T reported consolidated revenues of $31.6 billion (up 2.3% year-over-year), driven by Advanced Connectivity service revenue growth of 5.1% to $23.5 billion. Operating efficiency was evident as adjusted EBITDA grew 5.2% to $12.3 billion and adjusted EPS expanded 20.4% to $0.65. Growth was fueled by 432,000 postpaid phone net adds alongside 646,000 total broadband adds (367,000 fiber and 279,000 fixed wireless). Combined with 38.6 million fiber locations reached, keeping AT&T on track for over 40 million by year-end 2026, the company generated $4.7 billion in quarterly free cash flow. This operational stability underpins management's plan to return over $45 billion to shareholders through 2028, including $10 billion in 2026 share buybacks. Bear case: high debt and persistent legacy headwinds. Conversely, bears point out that macro improvements in wireless pricing may be offset by structural balance sheet constraints and ongoing legacy declines. AT&T ended Q2 2026 with $144.0 billion in total debt ($126.4 billion net debt). While leverage is projected to decline toward the target 2.5x range over three years, capital intensity remains steep, with annual capital investments budgeted at $23 billion to $24 billion through 2028. Furthermore, as AT&T powers down its copper network by 2029, legacy service revenues face an accelerated decline of 20%+ in 2026, with legacy EBITDA expected to turn negative after 2027. If promotional competition resurfaces or subscriber migration slows, heavy capital commitments could squeeze net returns. Market sentiment and conclusion. Market sentiment has turned increasingly constructive, buoyed by multi-year free cash flow guidance ($18 billion+ in 2026) and analyst consensus surrounding disciplined sector pricing. The BNP upgrade reinforces a key dynamic: if industry rationalization holds, AT&T Inc.'s steady Advanced Connectivity growth can comfortably offset legacy drag and support its capital return commitments. However, realizing the $30 price target requires flawless execution in fiber deployment and debt reduction amidst ongoing infrastructure spending. Related Insider Monkey Articles

Some iPhone 18 Pro Max users report AT&T cellular and eSIM issues. Some iPhone 18 Pro Max users in the United States are reporting cellular connectivity and eSIM problems on AT&T, leaving affected devices unable to reliably make calls, send messages or use mobile data. Complaints have appeared across Apple's Support Community, Reddit and online forums since the iPhone 18 Pro Max reached customers, with affected users reporting their devices repeatedly dropping into SOS mode or failing to connect to AT&T's network. The issue does not appear to affect every iPhone 18 Pro Max on AT&T, and it is not currently clear how widespread the problem is. In one Apple Support Community thread, customers describe unsuccessful attempts to resolve the problem through eSIM reprovisioning and AT&T support. One user said the issue persisted after multiple eSIM activations, while Apple subsequently arranged a replacement device after an RF diagnostic test failed to complete. There is currently no confirmed cause. One notable difference with the iPhone 18 Pro Max sold in the U.S. is its cellular modem. Unlike the smaller iPhone 18 Pro, which uses Apple's new C2 modem, the U.S. version of the iPhone 18 Pro Max continues to use a Qualcomm modem. The iPhone 18 Pro Max uses Apple's C2 modem outside the United States, while iPhone Duo also uses the C2 worldwide. Apple has not explained why the U.S. iPhone 18 Pro Max retains Qualcomm hardware. Discover more Company News Consumer Electronics Smart Phones There is no evidence at this stage that the Qualcomm modem is responsible for the reported AT&T problems, and the modem difference should not be treated as the cause unless Apple or AT&T confirms a connection. Some customer reports instead point toward eSIM or carrier provisioning as a possible factor. An AT&T customer writing on Reddit said support described their problem as a known network issue involving phone reprovisioning, although AT&T has not publicly issued a broader statement confirming the cause. The reports arrive shortly after Apple launched the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max on September 18. The two devices were announced earlier this month alongside iPhone Duo, which opens for pre-orders in October. It is not known whether iOS 27.0.1, a carrier settings update or a change on AT&T's side will address the cellular problems being reported by iPhone 18 Pro Max owners. For now, the available reports point to an issue affecting a subset of AT&T customers rather than a general cellular problem with the iPhone 18 Pro Max. Users experiencing persistent SOS mode or failed cellular activation should contact AT&T or Apple for support while the cause remains under investigation. Sid Clark. Sid Clark writes for The Apple Post, covering the latest from Apple and the wider tech world. Outside of writing, he's a keen guitarist, music fan and someone who's always got a new piece of tech to play around with.

Army soldier sentenced for spree of attacks on AT&T, Snowflake and other major companies. Cameron Wagenius was involved in some of the most high-profile attacks of 2024 while on active duty. September 25, 2026 A former Army soldier responsible for a series of attacks and extortion attempts on telecom companies, including AT&T, was sentenced to 70 months in prison, the Justice Department said Friday. Cameron John Wagenius engaged in a cybercrime spree for years, including while he was on active duty on a base in Texas. Prior to his arrest in December 2024, Wagenius attempted to sell stolen sensitive data to a foreign intelligence service and sought information online about defecting to Russia. "Cameron Wagenius spent more than a year and a half betraying the trust placed in him as an active duty soldier by carrying out a sweeping cybercrime campaign," said A. Tysen Duva, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, said in a statement. Wagenius, who pleaded guilty in July 2025, leaked stolen call records of President Donald Trump as part of multiple failed attempts to extort $500,000 from AT&T, Allison Nixon, chief research officer at Unit 221B, previously told CyberScoop. Authorities did not name Wagenius' alleged victims in court filings, but said he disclosed non-content call detail records belonging to a government official and family members of another former official. AT&T in July confirmed cybercriminals accessed the company's Snowflake environment in April and stole six months of phone and text records of "nearly all" of its customers. Wagenius' and one of his co-conspirators, Connor Moucka, attempted to extort more than 10 organizations after stealing credentials and breaking into cloud platforms used by AT&T and other major companies based in the United States and abroad. Moucka, a Canadian extradited to the United States in March 2025, pleaded guilty in August to playing a central role in one of the most far-reaching cyberattacks of 2024 - the widespread compromise of more than 165 Snowflake customer environments, resulting in massive data theft for extortion. Wagenius, Moucka and their alleged co-conspirator John Erin Binns, who is not presently in U.S. custody, stole billions of sensitive records and received more than $2.5 million in extortion payments combined, according to prosecutors. Victims of the attack spree included AT&T, Ticketmaster, Advance Auto Parts and Santander. Some of the records in Wagenius' possession at the time of his arrest were stolen in the attack spree on Snowflake customer databases, according to cybercrime researchers. Officials said Wagenius was directly involved in attempted extortion attempts targeting multiple organizations for a combined total of more than $1 million. The 22-year-old was ordered to pay almost $295,000 in restitution for his crimes. "His hacking schemes were not only aimed at getting rich, he was also motivated by a desire to achieve status within criminal hacking communities," Charles Neil Floyd, first assistant attorney for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, said in a statement. "This sentence must impose real consequences to deter him, and hopefully other would-be hackers." Wagenius, who identified himself as "kiberphant0m" and "cyb3rph4nt0m" on online criminal forums, used a hacking tool he helped develop called SSH Brute to steal credentials while on active duty, officials said. Wagenius and his co-conspirators threatened the victim organizations privately and in public forms, officials added. "It is especially shocking that a member of our armed forces, sworn to defend Americans and their constitutional rights, would engage in such a violation of privacy," W. Mike Herrington, special agent in charge of the FBI Seattle field office, said in a statement. When federal law enforcement seized Wagenius' devices in December 2024, they found evidence indicating he had access to thousands of stolen identification documents and large amounts of cryptocurrency. Days later, Wagenius purchased a new laptop against his commanding officer's order, according to officials, and used it every day over a five-day period in the barracks at Fort Cavazos in Texas with VPN software to hide his identity and location.