Financial research concept

Telecom Prepaid Phone Subscribers: Installed Prepaid Phone Base

Telecom prepaid phone subscribers measure the installed phone customer base that pays in advance, providing a distinct scale measure from postpaid phone subscribers.

By Lee BaileyPublished Sep 21, 2026
Research context

See what supports this page, how current it is, and where comparable or historical context is available.

Research date
Sep 21, 2026Use the dated article and cited sources for the definition, examples, and stated limitations.
Operating-model context
12 connected conceptsPart of the reviewed Telecom Wireless & Broadband Operating Model; issuer definitions remain distinct where disclosed.
Company examples
2 reviewed companiesRelationships reflect supported examples, not a normalized cross-company KPI ranking.
  1. Prepaid and postpaid economics differ
  2. Preserve carrier scope
  3. Primary sources
  4. Part of the Telecom Wireless & Broadband Operating Model
  5. See It in Company Research
  6. Continue Research

Telecom prepaid phone subscribers measure the period-end base of phone customers on prepaid service under the carrier's reporting definition.

They are a prepaid phone customer-base measure, distinct from postpaid phone subscribers and from broader prepaid device connections.

AT&T reported 16.518 million prepaid phone subscribers at June 30, 2026. Verizon reported 18.654 million wireless retail core prepaid phone connections.

Prepaid and postpaid economics differ

Prepaid customers generally pay before service is provided and do not carry the same billing relationship as postpaid accounts.

That can change:

  • customer acquisition costs;
  • credit exposure;
  • device financing;
  • promotional structure;
  • churn; and
  • average revenue characteristics.

A larger prepaid base is therefore not directly interchangeable with the same number of postpaid subscribers.

Preserve carrier scope

AT&T reports prepaid phone subscribers within retail wireless. Verizon uses the label wireless retail core prepaid phone connections and separately reports broader core prepaid connections.

The investor task is comparable customer-base analysis, but the labels and populations should remain explicit.

Primary sources

Telecom prepaid phone subscribers are most useful as a prepaid phone customer-base measure. Read them with prepaid net additions, churn, ARPU where available, promotions, and postpaid mix.

Part of the Telecom Wireless & Broadband Operating Model

Connect postpaid phone scale, growth, churn, broadband net additions, installed fiber and fixed-wireless bases, and prepaid phone scale, growth, and churn to understand telecom customer-base economics.

How the model fits together
  • Postpaid phone base, growth, and retention: Postpaid phone subscribers show the recurring phone base, net additions show whether it is expanding or contracting, and postpaid phone churn shows the rate at which customers leave. Issuer definitions remain specific to each carrier's retail population.
  • Broadband growth and access mix: Broadband net additions show total high-speed connectivity growth, while fiber and fixed-wireless net additions decompose the access technologies driving that growth. AT&T and Verizon use related but not identical internet and broadband labels.
  • Installed broadband base and prepaid dynamics: Broadband, fiber, and fixed-wireless connections show the installed access base behind net additions. Prepaid phone subscribers, net additions, and churn add a distinct lower-commitment wireless customer layer whose acquisition and retention economics differ from postpaid.

See It in Company Research

These companies are examples of how the concept is reported or discussed in public filings. Definitions can differ by issuer; these links open company research rather than a normalized metric comparison.

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