AT&T expects record quarter on iPhone 4S sales

Thanks to the success of the iPhone 4S, AT&T announced today that it expects to have its best quarter ever for sales of smartphones. In the press release from AT&T, the company noted that its network is the place where iPhone 4S users can "download three times faster and talk and surf at the same time."

Over 1 million iPhone 4S smartphones were activated by AT&T in the first five days of availability, although the cellular carrier declined to note how many devices out of 6 million sold in October and November were iPhones. Since December is usually a strong month for smartphone sales, AT&T should beat its previous quarterly smartphone sales record of 6.1 million units.

AT&T senior VP and CFO, John Stephens, revealed the information at a conference in New York. Stephens also told attendees that it plans on having its 4G LTE network available to 70 million people by the end of 2011. Apple has not yet announced plans to launch an LTE iPhone in 2012, although that move is widely expected.