A day after Apple announced its record march quarter revenue, AT&T reported strong first-quarter earnings results highlighted by rapid growth in mobile broadband, further expansion of AT&T U-verse services and solid gains in IP-based and business services.
For the Q1 2010, AT&T’s consolidated revenues totaled $30.6 billion, up $78 million, or 0.3 percent, versus the year-earlier quarter.
Operating expenses were $24.6 billion versus $24.8 billion; operating income was $6.0 billion, up from $5.7 billion in the first quarter of 2009.
The company’s operating income margin was 19.6 percent, up from 18.8 percent in the year-earlier quarter.
First-quarter 2010 net income attributable to AT&T totaled $2.5 billion ($0.42 per diluted share), reflecting a previously disclosed noncash charge of $995 million, related to recently enacted changes in the tax treatment for the Medicare Part D subsidy. Excluding this charge, first-quarter earnings would have been $3.5 billion ($0.59 per diluted share). These results compare with net income of $3.1 billion, or $0.53 per diluted share, in the year-earlier first quarter.
Record First-Quarter Subscriber Gain
AT&T posted a net gain in total wireless subscribers of 1.9 million, the highest first-quarter total in the company’s history, to reach 87.0 million in service. According to the company, first-quarter net add growth reflects continued rapid adoption of smartphones and a host of connected devices such as eReaders, global positioning systems and alarm monitoring systems.
Connected devices in service increased by 1.1 million in the quarter to reach 5.8 million, and retail postpaid net adds totaled 512,000 to reach 65.1 million.
14.9 Percent Growth in Strategic Business Services Revenues
Revenues from new-generation capabilities that lead AT&T’s most advanced business solutions — including Ethernet, VPNs, hosting, IP conferencing and application services — grew 14.9 percent versus the year-earlier quarter, continuing AT&T’s strong trends in this category.
"We’re off to a great start to the year, and our fundamental outlook for the business continues to be quite positive,” said Randall Stephenson, AT&T chairman and chief executive officer.
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