AT&T (T) risk factors: FY2025 10-K
Item 1A of the 10-K for the period ending 2025-12-31, filed 2026-02-09. 24 risk factor headings as filed. Read Item 1A in full · The whole 10-K · What changed since FY2024
0new since FY2024
2reworded
1removed
22unchanged
Headings mentioning a theme: Tariffs 0 · AI 0 · Cybersecurity 1 · China 0 · Interest rates 1. Compare across the S&P 500.
Risk factors
24- Macro-Economic Factors:
- Adverse changes in the U.S. securities markets, a higher interest rate environment, rising inflation and medical costs could materially increase our benefit plan costs and future funding requirements.rewordedInterest rates
- Inflationary pressures on costs, such as inputs for devices we sell and network components, labor and distribution costs, may impact our network construction, our financial condition or results of operations.
- Adverse changes in global financial markets could limit our ability and our larger customers’ and suppliers’ ability to access capital or increase the cost of capital needed to fund business operations.
- Our international operations increase our exposure to political instability, to changes in the international economy and to regulation on our business, and these risks could offset our expected growth opportunities.
- Industry-Wide Factors:
- Changes to federal, state and foreign government regulations and decisions in regulatory proceedings, as well as private litigation, could further increase our operating costs and/or alter customer perceptions of our operations, which could materially adversely affect us.
- Extreme weather events and other potential effects of climate change may impose risk of damage to our infrastructure, our ability to provide services, and may cause changes in federal, state and foreign government regulation, all of which may result in potential adverse impact to our financial results.
- Continuing growth in and the converging nature of wireless and broadband services will require us to deploy significant amounts of capital and require ongoing access to spectrum in order to provide attractive services to customers.
- Increasing competition could materially adversely affect our operating results.
- Intellectual property rights may be inadequate to take advantage of business opportunities, which may materially adversely affect our operations.
- Incidents or public assertions leading to damage to our reputation or questions about our business conduct, and any resulting lawsuits, claims or other legal proceedings, could have a material adverse effect on our business.
- Our business is subject to risks related to public health crises.
- Company-Specific Financial Factors:
- Customer adoption of new software-based technologies may require higher-quality services from us, and meeting these demands could create supply chain issues and could increase capital costs.
- We depend on various suppliers to provide equipment to operate our business and satisfy customer demand, and interruption or delay in supply can adversely impact our operating results.
- Increasing costs to provide services and failure to renew agreements on favorable terms, or at all, could adversely affect operating margins.
- A significant portion of our workforce is represented by labor unions, and we could incur additional costs or experience work stoppages as a result of the renegotiation of our labor contracts.
- We may not realize or sustain the expected benefits from acquisitions, joint ventures or our business transformation initiatives, including dispositions, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, operations, financial condition, results of operations and competitive position.reworded
- Unfavorable litigation or governmental investigation results could require us to pay significant amounts or lead to onerous operating procedures.
- Cyberattacks impacting our networks, systems or data or those of our suppliers or vendors may have a material adverse effect on our operations or results of operations.Cybersecurity
- Natural disasters, extreme weather conditions or terrorist or other hostile acts could cause damage to our infrastructure and result in significant disruptions to our operations.
- Increases in our debt levels to fund spectrum purchases, or other strategic decisions could adversely affect our ability to finance future debt at attractive rates and reduce our ability to respond to competition and adverse economic trends.
- Our business may be impacted by changes in tax laws and regulations, judicial interpretations of the same or administrative actions by federal, state, local and foreign taxing authorities.
No longer in Item 1A
1Headings in the FY2024 10-K with no match this year.
- If the distribution of WarnerMedia, together with certain related transactions, were to fail to qualify for non-recognition treatment for U.S. federal income tax purposes under audit, then we could be subject to significant tax liability.
Headings are the lines of Item 1A set wholly in bold or italics, as the parser reads them, without the introductory paragraph that opens the section. A heading is new when no heading in the prior 10-K matches it after ignoring case and punctuation, and reworded when it shares at least 60 percent of its words with one that went away. Source: the filing on sec.gov.
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