AT&T stands to gain as Verizon loses a customer related battle

AT&T stands to gain as Verizon loses a customer related battle Hillary Remy Thu, August 20, 2026 at 7:00 PM EDT 5 min read T VZ TMUS Both AT&T and Verizon sold their customers' real-time location data to aggregators who resold it to almost anyone willing to pay. Both got fined. Both fought back. One of them just ran out of road. On Aug. 17, the Supreme Court denied Verizon's petition to recover the $47 million it paid the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over the sale of customer location data, ending the carrier's effort without explanation, according to QZ . AT&T is in a different position. Its case took a different procedural path and it still has a live shot at recovering the $57 million it paid. That gap matters, and it didn't happen by accident. Verizon's FCC $47M location data fine The fines go back to April 2024, when the FCC penalized four carriers a combined $196 million for selling customers' location data to aggregators without meaningful consent. T-Mobile was hit hardest at $80 million. AT&T paid $57 million. Verizon paid $47 million. Sprint paid $12 million. The carriers didn't just pay and move on. They paid under protest and went to court arguing the FCC's enforcement process violated their Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial. The agency, they said, acted as judge and jury by imposing penalties through an administrative process rather than taking them to court. More Verizon: Verizon shuts down longtime customer support option after layoffs Veriz…