AT&T reports second quarter profit of $3.8 billion, adds over 2 million wireless and broadband subscribers
AT&T's 2013 second quarter results are in, with the telco reporting $3.8 billion in net profits, a slight decrease from the $3.9 billion earned the same quarter last year. Total revenues for Q2 came in at $32.1 billion, representing a 1.6-percent increase year-over-year. AT&T's attributing much of this gain to a 2 million-plus increase in subscribers -- both on the wireless and wired broadband end -- and an uptick in mobile data plans. Wireless revenue for the quarter, which includes mobile phone and tablet sales, came in at $17.3 billion and accounts for a 5.7-percent boost versus Q2 2012, while revenue for wireless service totaled $15.4 billion. On the data front, the carrier saw significant growth as its revenue jumped nearly 20 percent compared to the same period last year, settling in at $5.4 billion.
Of its new subscriber load, 1.2 million can be attributed to AT&T's wireless business, while its U-Verse broadband and TV service gains -- which now totals 9.4 million subs overall -- account for the remainder of that figure. According to AT&T's estimates, almost three-quarters (73 percent) of its 49.5 million postpaid wireless subscribers are smartphone users, of which nearly 35 percent have active LTE plans. Coverage for that high-speed data service currently reaches over 225 million households, with the carrier targeting a total of 270 million covered by year-end. AT&T anticipates that LTE rollout will be almost entirely complete by summer 2014.
Update: In the investor call, AT&T executives hammered home the commitment to high-speed data and the willingness of its customers to opt for larger data buckets, especially when it comes to its Mobile Share plans. About 13 million subscribers are on a Mobile Share plan, and more than 25 percent of those are opting for 10GB or more per month. Interestingly, more than 15 percent of customers on Mobile Share moved over from grandfathered unlimited plans -- over 70 percent of postpaid customers are on some kind of tiered data plan.
AT&T also said on the call that it sold more iPhones this quarter compared to Q2 2012, though it would not provide specific numbers. Further, CEO Ralph de la Vega said that T-Mobile's recent offering of the iPhone had a significantly less impact on churn than when the iPhone went to Sprint and Verizon. Not to leave others out, he said that this quarter saw its best-ever Android sales and that it hopes the Lumia 1020 will drive sales of the company's Windows Phone devices as well.
As for the carrier's recent purchase of Leap, de la Vega said that the acquisition will accelerate AT&T's entry into the prepaid segment. Combined with the official launch of LTE in AT&T's goPhone lineup, he hopes that Leap will give the carrier a better position in the prepaid market than before.
Nicole Lee contributed to this report.
