Competition in the U.S. fiber broadband market is intensifying, with all three major wireless operators having committed material capital to fiber in the space of around 18 months.
T-Mobile recently announced two new JVs in April 2026, committing a combined of $2.7bn for 50% stakes: one combining GoNetspeed and Greenlight Networks under a JV with Oak Hill Capital and another acquiring i3 Broadband under a JV with Wren House. T-Mobile had previously guided to 12-15mn locations by 2030 but declined to update this figure following the JV announcements in April 2026.
Unlike AT&T and Verizon, T-Mobile does not hold wholly owned fiber assets, keeping fiber off its balance sheet entirely and accessing the market through JVs and wholesale partnerships. Across four fibre JVs, it has committed total capital of more than $8bn.
AT&T is also increasingly turning to JVs: its 2023 Gigapower JV Gigapower with BlackRock and, more recently, Forged Fiber 37, which incorporates Lumen’s fiber assets. In Q1 2026 earnings, AT&T indicated plans to sell a controlling stake in Forged Fiber 37 to a third-party equity investor to fund future expansion. The acquisition price will be an important signal for investor appetite for U.S. fiber assets.
According to Infrastructure Pulse Spring 2026 Survey, funds’ outlook for fiber in North America declined to below 1 (on a scale where 5 is most favorable and -5 least favorable), but still higher than Europe, where valuations have deteriorated in certain countries (G.Network and Gigaclear in the UK and DNS:Net in Germany).
Verizon has been organically building its Fios fiber network since the mid-2000s and in January 2026 closed its $20bn acquisition of Frontier Communications, a dedicated fiber operator that had only emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2021. Frontier has some geographic overlap and adjacency to AT&T’s fiber footprint, increasing competition between Verizon and AT&T.
Fiber subscribers in the U.S. have grown steadily as network coverage expands and consumers' demand for higher speeds increases. AT&T has led the market since 2022, but Verizon’s Frontier acquisition has brought it to within approximately 1mn subscribers of AT&T as of Q1 2026, down from a gap of 2.7mn at the end of 2025. T-Mobile remains significantly behind both operators, though its growing JV footprint gives it an opportunity to capture market share from both the two fiber leaders and legacy cable operators.
AT&T’s organic fiber net adds have stabilised over the past three quarters, while Verizon’s almost doubled in Q1 2026, consistent with the narrowing subscriber gap between the two operators.
AT&T’s Convergence Story
AT&T ended Q1 2026 with 37mn fiber locations passed (implying 32% penetration) and is targeting 40mn fiber locations by 2026 (inclusive of the Lumen acquisition). Its longer-term goal of 60mn locations by 2030 implies ~5mn new fiber locations p.a. until 2030. Its core strategy evolves around driving convergence between mobile and broadband to reduce churn and improve customer value.
CEO John Stankey noted that the organic convergence rate (excluding recently acquired Lumen footprint) reached 45% of home internet customers (+3pp YoY). Stankey emphasized that convergence is a priority in AT&T’s fiber areas, while fixed wireless and mobile bundling will serve as an alternative in other areas without fiber coverage, acknowledging that the addressable customer pool for fixed wireless convergence is structurally more limited than for fiber convergence.
Verizon Shifting from FWA to Fiber with Potential Future Acquisitions
Verizon expects to reach 32mn fiber locations by 2026, with implied penetration of ~35%, above AT&T’s rate despite a slightly smaller footprint. Its medium-term target of 40-50mn passings, while not tied to a specific year, implies a minimum of 2mn new fiber passings p.a. through to 2030. On the convergence opportunity, CEO Daniel Schulman highlighted the significant upside: “Only 20% of our base has broadband…we see a large go-to-market opportunity.”
Verizon is increasingly treating fiber as a competitive priority over fixed wireless and has been explicit about its openness to further inorganic activity. Schulman stated: “We are looking at more partnerships, potential acquisitions to speed the number of homes passed,” and added that “there may be more of a shift to fiber than FWA.”
Of the three operators, Verizon is the only one to have publicly signalled an appetite for further fiber M&A.
T-Mobile’s Focus on Local-Scale Fiber JVs
T‑Mobile is approaching fiber differently from peers, with no organic build program and no wholly owned fiber assets, an asset-light approach. Its strategy centres on selective JVs at local scale, with each deal assessed based on returns rather than a total footprint ambition. The company targets IRRs of 10% or above from its fiber investments and has moved away from a fixed fiber passing target (previously stated 12-15mn by 2030), in favor of a more opportunistic, deal-by-deal approach.
T-Mobile President Andre Almeida said, “We're not looking at master plan on having fiber everywhere,” following CEO Srinavan Gopalan’s view that the company’s edge lies in entering markets as the first fiber provider, rather than pursuing national coverage. The company has also ruled out cable assets entirely. Gopalan noted: “Cable is not something we're interested in…we see a huge opportunity to attack incumbents across fiber and FWA.”
The three major wireless operators are steadily gaining broadband market share from cable operators (largest operators: Comcast, Charter, and Cox), which held the majority of broadband customers on cable networks before fiber and fixed wireless emerged as credible alternatives.
Both Charter and Comcast reached peak broadband subscriber counts in 2023 (32.3mn and 30.6mn, respectively) and have been losing ground since. Despite Comcast’s recent stabilisation, continued subscriber losses across cable networks appear likely as fiber and FWA extend coverage and improve penetration.
Comcast lost 65k broadband subscribers in Q1 2026, its smallest quarterly loss since Q1 2024 and an improvement of 117k year-on-year. Comcast management attributed this to a simplified pricing strategy, replacing short-term promotional rates with five-year price guarantees, and to the marketing tailwind from “Legendary February” (the period including the Winter Olympics and Super Bowl). However, ARPU and margin pressure are likely to intensify as the new pricing strategy flows through. Comcast is also pursuing a convergence strategy to rebuild margin through mobile bundling.
Charter lost 120k subscribers in Q1 2026, its third highest customer loss since 2024. Unlike Comcast, Charter has not pursued aggressive broadband price promotions, a stance that preserves near-term ARPU but risks accelerating subscriber losses. The pending Cox acquisition, which received FCC approval in February 2026 and is expected to close by August/September 2026, will add scale but also integration complexity. The market will be watching closely whether the combined entity can stabilise broadband losses.
A Comcast-Charter merger is regularly discussed by analysts as a deal with compelling industrial logic: non-overlapping footprints, cost synergies, and a stronger competitive position against fiber and fixed wireless (but one that faces substantial near-term obstacles).
However, neither CEO has indicated that a merger is a current priority. Comcast’s management pointed to organic recovery of the cable segment as the primary focus, while Charter’s management is likely to prioritise Cox integration and potential smaller cable acquisitions. Regulatory risk is also significant as the combination of the only two national-scale operators would represent more than 50% of U.S. broadband subscribers and would face antitrust scrutiny.
Longer term, the pressured cable sector is likely to go undergo some form of consolidation, and a Comcast-Charter merger is one of several possible paths (a Comcast-Charter merger is likely in our view if their combined market share falls below 40%), in addition to an acquisition by one of the three major wireless operators or by SpaceX.
This article was co-written by Guniz Kama and Sagar Sankhe.
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