US telecoms giant AT&T Inc has reported consolidated revenues of USD32.6 billion for the three months ended 30 June 2014, a rise of 1.6% year-on-year. Wireless sales accounted for the bulk of revenues in 2Q14, rising 3.7% to USD17.9 billion, while wireline revenues dropped 0.9% y-o-y to USD14.6 billion. Operating income dropped from USD6.1 billion to USD5.6 billion in the second quarter, while net income fell from USD3.8 billion to USD3.5 billion in the same period.
In operational terms, AT&T reported a total wireless subscriber base of 116.634 million at 30 June 2014, up from 107.884 million one year earlier. The telco added 1.026 million net new post-paid subscribers in the second quarter – its strongest post-paid net gain in nearly five years. Total wireless subscribers increased by 634,000 in the quarter, with the impressive contract additions offset by a net loss of 405,000 pre-paid connections, principally due to a cull of low-ARPU users inherited through AT&T’s USD1.19 billion acquisition of Leap Wireless in March. Elsewhere, the second quarter saw AT&T add 175,000 connected devices, but shed 162,000 reseller accounts.
At the end of June 2014 80%, or 54.6 million, of AT&T’s post-paid user base had smartphones, up from 73%, or 49.5 million, one year earlier. Smartphones accounted for 92% of post-paid phone sales in the quarter. The telco claims that its ARPU for smartphones is more than twice that of non-smartphone subscribers. Further, at the end of the second quarter, 63% of AT&T’s post-paid smartphone customers were said to use an LTE-capable device, giving it a 4G subscriber base of just under 34.4 million.
