Analysts say that AT&T and Charter Communications are best positioned to benefit from the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program due to the presence of each provider in states receiving the greatest allocations.
ISI Evercore explained, “The larger the presence an operator has in a state with a sizable allocation of BEAD funding, the greater the opportunity there is for it to see benefits from a build-out near its existing footprint and fill-in additional pockets across its DMAs [designated market areas] with edge-outs. In that context, we highlight that AT&T and Charter over-index to states that received the lion’s share of BEAD allocation.”
According the ISI Evercore’s analysts, 33% and 27% of AT&T’s and Charter’s residential broadband subs, respectively, come from the two top BEAD states, Texas and California.
They added that Comcast will have a “meaningful opportunity for subsidized edge-outs,” as well, and may look to aggressively bid in regions where it already has a foothold.
New Street Research agreed that, among cable providers, Charter has the biggest opportunity based on BEAD units, followed by Comcast, Cox Communications and Altice USA.
On the telco side, the research outfit found that AT&T is the most likely winner, followed by Verizon, Frontier Communications and Lumen.
Here’s their math…
