AT&T (T) vs. Verizon (VZ): Which Blue Chip Telecoms Play Should You Buy Today?

I only hold one real telecoms play: former monopoly, BT Group (BT.A), which I bought back in November 2014. I have on several occasions been tempted by Vodafone but until it is clear that its dividend is entirely safe by being covered by earnings I have held off. If I am interested in attractive utility-like telecom exposure beyond this, therefore, I have to look a little further afield.

In January I compiled a couple of articles on AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ) on Seeking Alpha assessing their FCF (free cash flow) performance alongside a number of tests I put to them. They both did OK-ish. However, the main reason for them was to get my eye in preparation for the big event: FY 2015 results! Late last month, in they came. So here I am going to compare the two in light of these results to see whether either are attractive investments right now.

BUYS: Sky and BT--Head-to-head Media Giants side-by-side in my Portfolio

This month has been a busy one for my purchases. Two particularly notable ones, some days apart but in the same(ish) sector were Sky (formerly British Sky Broadcasting) and BT Group.

Both of these FTSE 100 giants I have been watching for some time. Originally, I had planned to put just one in my portfolio. After all, as both seem to be slowly but surely migrating towards a quad play (broadband, tv, mobile and fixed phone lines) business model they seemed to overlap.

This is still true. However, after being uncertain on which way to fall, I decided to look to putting a small  stake in both companies after some interesting shifts for both.