AT&T enjoys halo-effect from iPhone as it posts better than expected profits
AT&T yesterday posted better-than-expected profits and said it was more optimistic on growth prospects for the year.
The exclusive US provider for Apple’s iPhone forecast strong earnings per share growth for the full year 2010 after previously promising “stable-to-improved” results.
AT&T’s profit rose to $4bn (£2.6bn), from $3.2bn in the same quarter a year earlier.
Revenue rose to $30.8bn from $30.6bn in the same quarter the year before.
AT&T said that second-quarter comparisons are based on results from continuing operations, which excludes revenue from Sterling Commerce, a unit it is selling to IBM.
However, AT&T’s growth of valuable monthly-bill paying wireless customers was lower than analysts expected
The operator’s addition of 496,000 monthly bill paying customers, known as postpaid
customers, was below the average analyst expectation for 552,000.
But including prepaid services and connections to devices such as the Amazon.com electronic reader Kindle AT&T said it added 1.6m new customers in the quarter.
The firm has benefited from the “halo effect” of being associated with Apple’s new iPhone 4, despite the much publicised antenna issues it has suffered from.