US telecom stocks deliver uneven 2025 returns as deals dominate

The U.S. telecom sector witnessed infrastructure buyouts, intense wireless competition and shifts in broadband subscriber gains in 2025

AT&T T.N up 8.96% this year; co announced a $5.75 bln acquisition of Lumen Technologies' LUMN.N consumer fiber business in May and agreed to buy EchoStar's SATS.O wireless spectrum licenses for $23 bln in August

Charter Communications CHTR.O down 38.85% YTD; co announced a $21.9 bln merger with Cox Communications in May, creating a cable giant to rival Comcast CMCSA.O

T-Mobile TMUS.O down 7.67% this year; co took Starlink's direct-to-cell service live in July, closed a $1.02 bln acquisition of UScellular in August and appointed Srini Gopalan as CEO in November

Verizon VZ.N up 1.78% YTD; co finalized a $20 bln purchase of Frontier Communications FYBR.O in May and announced more than 13,000 job cuts in November as part of new CEO Dan Schulman's first major move

The benchmark S&P 500 gained 17.3% this year