Consumers Maintaining Cellphone Payments Despite Financial Difficulties

AT&T Inc. is an American multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas.

Verizon is a leading telecommunications company that offers a wide range of services, including wireless, broadband, and TV. Verizon has a strong presence in the United States and is one of the largest providers of wireless service. The company has a long history of providing quality service and is a trusted name in the telecommunications industry.

Communications Inc. and T-Mobile US Inc. are two of the leading telecommunications companies in the United States. They offer a wide range of services and products, and have a strong presence in the market.

Despite months of high inflation and concerns over the pace of economic growth, consumers are still paying their bills on time, according to a recent report. This suggests that households are still managing to keep up with their financial obligations, despite the challenges posed by inflation and slower economic growth.

The wireless, telephone and broadband businesses of AT&T and other companies touch many American households. In July, AT&T said that its subscribers were paying their monthly phone and internet bills on average two days slower than they were a year earlier.

On Wednesday, AT&T finance chief Pascal Desroches said that payment delinquencies were unusually low during late 2020 and early 2021, but that they have since normalized and are now “slightly worse” than they were before the pandemic.

At a Citigroup conference, he said that while there are some concerns, they are not alarming and are just a normalization of what had been an unusually strong economy.

Verizon's CEO Hans Vestberg said that they are also paying close attention to changes in consumer behavior. He said that, so far, they haven't seen any impact of late payments or anything like that. Vestberg made these comments at the Citi conference.

Analysts have been monitoring late bill payments as a way to gauge how inflation might be affecting household budgets and as an early warning sign of whether consumers might churn from current services. The companies are expected to release their quarterly earnings reports in the next few weeks.

Wireless carriers are expecting a slower growth environment after adding customers at a rapid pace in earlier years of the Covid-19 pandemic. While the industry remains healthy, Mr. Desroches said, he expects net customer additions to come at a more modest pace this year. “I think what you should look for is an environment where there is competition, but it’s going to be done in a very disciplined way,” Mr. Desroches said.

In recent months, wireless carriers have faced competition from cable companies that have introduced new and cheaper cellphone plans. Some customers have also switched to prepaid phone plans from pricier options to save money.

In order to retain its customer base, Verizon has been increasing its focus on prepaid services in recent years. This has included acquiring a number of brands through its purchase of TracFone Wireless in 2021, and launching its own Total by Verizon service last fall. According to Mr. Vestberg, this demonstrates that the company is able to compete with anyone and meet the needs of any type of consumer.

T-Mobile's financial chief, Peter Osvaldik, said that the company isn't seeing its customers come under pressure to pay bills or trade down on services, even as cancellations return to more historic levels.

He said that the company is not seeing any rate plan migrations at the moment, and that they look at customer payment behavior on a daily basis. He noted that there has been a return to the prepandemic level, but nothing worse.