Sam OliverAT&T made the announcement while releasing results for its fiscal second quarter, in which it said that profits rose 30 percent to $3.77 billion, or 63 cents per share, on revenue of $30.9 billion for the three months ended June 30. Those results don't include a boost from iPhone 3G, however, as the device did not go on sale until July 11th — 11 days after the quarter's end.
The nation's largest telecoms firm said mobility, broadband connectivity and integrated services that encompass voice, data and video are driving a new wave of communications, and that it plans to enhance its premier networks and products to best deliver those emerging capabilities to both business and consumers.
"The Apple iPhone 3G is a dramatic example of this transformation," said chief executive Randall Stephenson. "In the days following our exclusive U.S. launch of this new device, powered by the nation's fastest 3G wireless network, customer response has been everything we had anticipated and more."
During the quarter, AT&T added 1.3 million wireless subscribers, which was about 200,000 shy of the 1.5 million added by main rival Verizon Wireless. Still, AT&T ended the quarter with 72.8 million customers compared to Verizon Wireless' 68.7 million, maintaining is rank as the largest US wireless provider.
Total wireless revenues increased 15.8 percent to $12.0 billion in the second quarter, and wireless service revenues, which exclude handset and accessory sales, grew 14.8 percent to $11.0 billion. AT&T said wireless revenue growth was driven by its solid subscriber gains and a greater number of customers choosing more advanced smartphones and integrated devices like the iPhone.
Those smartphone users helped more than doubled AT&T's wireless data revenues to $2.5 billion, while revenues from e-mail, messaging and data access also saw greater than 50 percent growth. At the same time, text messaging volumes tripled versus totals for the year earlier, and multimedia message volumes increased more than 170 percent. At the end of the second quarter, approximately 18 percent of AT&T's postpaid wireless subscribers had an integrated device, up from 8 percent last year.
On average, AT&T said iPhone and other smartphone subscribers produce average revenues of roughly double the company average. The carrier expects continued strong growth in wireless data services as more customers choose data plans and advanced wireless devices such as the new iPhone 3G.
AT&T also said that retail postpaid churn — or number of subscribers who left and were subsequently replaced — moved down to 1.1 percent in the second quarter, which represents the lowest level in its corporate history.
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26 Comments
"In the days following our exclusive U.S. launch of this new device, powered by the nation's fastest 3G wireless network, customer response has been everything we had anticipated and more."
I have to say, the 3G network is really pretty fast. Even though I have only a single bar of signal strength, I'm getting really fast throughput.
iPhone sales are only double that of last year? I would have thought it would be considerably higher with the lower initial cost, the addition of 3G and GPS.
I have to say, the 3G network is really pretty fast. Even though I have only a single bar of signal strength, I'm getting really fast throughput.
I was getting slightly over 2Mbps with the aggregated Rx and Tx last night on my MB using a Seirra 881 USB radio.
iPhone sales are only double that of last year? I would have thought it would be considerably higher with the lower initial cost, the addition of 3G and GPS.
I was getting slightly over 2Mbps with the aggregated Rx and Tx last night on my MB using a Seirra 881 USB radio.
Well as opposed to last year I'd say it's only double because of the supply issue. I don't recall there being lines every single morning 2 weeks after release as well as virtually every single AT&T store being sold out.
In addition I've got people here at work who aren't technically prone AT ALL buying the iPhone so I think their low selling point is doing the trick. The one person in particular has never sent a text message nor has he ever owned an iPod. So yeah, the marketing scheme is working very, very well...
AT&T said Wednesday that sales of Apple's iPhone 3G during the first twelve days were nearly double that of last year, this despite shortages that have seen backorders stretch one to three weeks at its retail stores.
This statement is too vague. Does it mean that total iPhone 3G sales were more than *all* of last year's sales, or just the first twelve days of last year? That is, is the *rate* of sales (iPhones per day) double? I imagine this is what they are saying. If so, this is not that enlightening at all. We already know that in the first three days, the sales rate was nearly four times that of the original iPhone (1 million vs. 270,000).
This statement is too vague. Does it mean that total iPhone 3G sales were more than *all* of last year's sales, or just the first twelve days of last year? That is, is the *rate* of sales (iPhones per day) double? I imagine this is what they are saying. If so, this is not that enlightening at all. We already know that in the first three days, the sales rate was nearly four times that of the original iPhone (1 million vs. 270,000).
Vague is the word alright. Are they counting only AT&T chanel sales? Are they counting activations? Are they counting Apple sales as well? And their (Apples) backorders?