David Wainer, Columnist

AT&T Investors Need More Reassurance Despite Media Spinoff

The decision to shed the debt-laden film-and-TV business stanched the bleeding, but a lasting recovery hinges on adding more wireless users.

January 26, 2022 at 5:36 PM UTC

By David Wainer

David Wainer is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering the business of entertainment and telecommunications. He has covered markets, health care, economics and international affairs for Bloomberg News.

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Photographer: Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

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Investors were so bearish on AT&T Inc.’s stock over the past year that decent earnings results might be enough to reassure the market that the worst is over. But the company will need more than a one-time jump in mobile subscribers if it hopes to sustain investor optimism this year.

Thanks to a price war it started last year to win over customers from rivals Verizon Communications Inc. and T-Mobile US Inc., the company added 1.3 million wireless customers in the final quarter of 2021, bringing its full-year total to 4.5 million, the fastest growth in 10 years.