"Another big deal announced in 2025 was AT&T's plan to purchase Lumen's fiber business. That deal illustrates how important the broadband/mobile bundle has become. Customers that buy both offerings generate more revenue and are less likely to churn. None of the major mobile providers can offer home broadband everywhere. But acquiring Lumen's fiber business will bring AT&T a step closer."
"T-Mobile had a similar motivation for forming a joint venture (JV) with EQT to acquire home broadband provider Lumos and a separate JV with KKR to acquire Metronet. Metronet wasted no time in announcing an acquisition of its own - US Internet. Mobile providers can never have too much spectrum - a reality that spurred T-Mobile's purchase of UScellular's wireless business when that company's owners finally decided to sell after realizing they didn't have the scale to compete."
"Almost all last year's broadband mergers and acquisitions fell into one of two categories. Major providers such as T-Mobile, Verizon, Charter, and Cox made strategic broadband M&A deals. And private equity firms invested in companies pursuing high-speed broadband builds. Telecompetitor didn't cover every broadband M&A deal made in 2025. But we covered most of them. Here's our roundup for the year."
Broadband M&A activity in 2025 fell into two main categories: strategic transactions by major providers and private equity investments in high-speed build companies. Charter and Cox announced a planned merger to gain scale across video, mobile, and broadband markets. AT&T moved to acquire Lumen's fiber business to strengthen the broadband/mobile bundle and reduce churn. T-Mobile formed JVs to acquire Lumos and Metronet, and also bought UScellular's wireless business to gain spectrum and scale. Verizon pursued fixed wireless access via Starry, reflecting the growing importance of fixed wireless broadband. Multiple players pursued scale through consolidation and acquisitions.
Read at Telecompetitor
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