2Q26 U.S. Wireless and Broadband Preview: Expect Postpaid Phone Adds to Slow to 1.99m; EBITDA Upside and a Healthy Pricing Backdrop for the Big-3

Research evidence excerpt

2Q26 U.S. Wireless and Broadband Preview: Expect Postpaid Phone Adds to Slow to 1.99m; EBITDA Upside and a Healthy Pricing Backdrop for the Big-3

J P M O R G A N North America Equity Research

21 July 2026

2Q26 U.S. Wireless and

Broadband Preview

Expect Postpaid Phone Adds to Slow to 1.99m; EBITDA

Upside and a Healthy Pricing Backdrop for the Big-3

Ahead of 2Q26 earnings season, we preview our subscriber and financial Telecom Services, Cable & Satellite

ACexpectations for the U.S. wireless, broadband, and video industries. In wireless, we Sebastiano C Petti

estimate postpaid phone net adds of 1.99m in 2Q26, comprising 1.13m MNO adds (1-212) 622-8529

and 863k MVNO gains. In total, we estimate 2Q phone net adds (postpaid + sebastiano.c.petti@jpmorgan.com

prepaid) of 2.07m. For broadband, we estimate residential net adds of 612k in Shayna Nguyen

2Q26, driven by higher telco fiber adds (footprint expansion plus converged (1-212) 622-0038

bundles), a steady FWA contribution, and scaling satellite growth, with the latter shayna.nguyen@jpmchase.com

two likely contributing to TAM expansion amid new use cases. Given this John Stid

intensifying competition, we expect cable net losses of 555k in the quarter. Across (1-212) 272-0992

john.stid@jpmorgan.com

the total linear video ecosystem (legacy + vMVPD), we forecast net losses of 979k J.P. Morgan Securities LLC

in 2Q26 (-4.6% on a TTM basis), comprising 906k legacy losses and 72k vMVPD

losses. Please contact us for an updated copy of our comprehensive metric sheet,

which provides historical carrier-by-carrier analysis of the wireless, broadband,

and video ecosystems.

Beyond the subscriber trends, we flag three takeaways for the quarter. First, we see

upside to Big-3 EBITDA, supported by more rational handset promotions, easier