iPhone Boosts AT&T Results Again

  • July 23, 2009
Demand for the iPhone and wireless service continued to power AT&T's growth as the telecom giant added added 1.4 million wireless subscribers, two-thirds of whom got the popular Apple device. The company's quarterly profit fell 15%, though, as its declining wireline business lost another 3.3 million customers in the period.

Overall, AT&T posted a profit of $3.2 billion, or 54 cents a share, down from $3.77 billion, or 63 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue dropped 0.4% to just over $30 billion.

AT&T activated 2.4 million new iPhones during the quarter, benefiting from the release of the new 3G S model in June and the halving in price of the existing 3G phone to $99. AT&T said it had its best retail store sales day ever on June 19, when the iPhone 3G S was released.

The smartphone also helped to drive increased sales from non-voice usage like Web browsing and texting for AT&T. Revenue from wireless data services grew 37.2% to $934 million, accounting for 28.7% of total wireless services revenue. That's up from 22.9% a year ago. Mark Walsh

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