AT&T (T) managed to understand elevated momentum from shoppers through the first few months of this yr, regardless of not too long ago scaling again a vital low cost.
In its first-quarter earnings report for 2025, AT&T revealed that it generated a internet earnings of $4.7 billion through the quarter, which is nineteen% larger than what it earned throughout the identical quarter in 2024.
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AT&T additionally added 324,000 new postpaid telephone prospects and 261,000 new Fiber web prospects through the first few months of the yr.
Associated: AT&T quietly points stern warning to prospects
These outcomes come after AT&T quietly warned prospects final month that beginning on April 24, their autopay low cost will lower from $10 to $5 in the event that they pay their month-to-month invoice with a debit card. This transfer annoyed prospects, with some even threatening to modify telephone suppliers.
Whereas AT&T is going through elevated income, the telephone provider is sounding the alarm on the potential impression of a rising risk.
On April 2, President Donald Trump raised eyebrows throughout the nation when he introduced a ten% “baseline” tariff on all nations importing items to the U.S., with roughly 60 nations seeing larger tariff charges.
Tariffs are taxes firms pay to import items from abroad, and the additional price is usually handed all the way down to shoppers by means of worth hikes.
Nonetheless, on April 9, he switched gears and enforced a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs on all nations (besides China), dropping them to a common fee of 10%. He additionally unexpectedly hiked tariffs on China to 145%.
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Throughout an earnings name on April 23, AT&T CEO John Stankey stated that tariffs can have a adverse impression on various gadgets the corporate sells.
“The introduced tariffs might probably enhance the price of smartphones and different gadgets, in addition to the price of community and technical gear,” stated Stankey. “The magnitude of any enhance will depend upon quite a lot of elements, together with how a lot of the tariffs our distributors cross on, and the impression that the tariffs have on client and enterprise demand.”
He additionally warned that AT&T might need to hike costs for its gadgets as a result of Trump’s tariffs.
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“So I believe that if finally prices are handed to us from people who we purchase handsets from, sadly for the shopper, we’re going to need to give you some new methods for them to determine digest that enhance in pricing,” stated Stankey.