In mobile, ACP's downfall would weigh heavier on MVNOs and wholesale

Mobile operators will feel a financial twinge if the FCC's Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) is shut down this spring, but the cut won't cause extreme bleeding when it comes to subscribers, revenues and EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization). Those are the findings in a New Street Research study that follows similar analysis of the potential impact on the wireline sector if ACP is discontinued. Mobile ACP recipients are heavily weighted towards the nation's fragmented group of mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), a situation that might put pressure on large mobile network operators, particularly T-Mobile and Verizon, depending on how their MVNO customers react if and when the program is shut down. New Street's Jonathan Chaplin predicted that the biggest impact in that area will be on T-Mobile (6.42 million subs, or 87 percent of that total), and AT&T (929,000 subs, or 13 percent), with no impact on Verizon and Dish in that category.