USA: Q1 2012: AT&T posted solid profit and sales growth.Thanks to smartphones and wireless data.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.

USA: Q1 2012. AT&T posted solid profit and sales growth.Thanks to smartphones and wireless data.

US operator AT&T posted solid Q1 profit and sales growth on the back of strong seasonal smartphone sales and an extra US$1 billion in wireless data revenue from a year earlier.

Consolidated revenue rose 1.8 percent to US$31.8 billion, while net income came in at US$3.6 billion, or US$0.60 per share, up from US$3.4 billion, or US$0.57 per share, in the year-earlier quarter. Earnings were slightly ahead of the US$0.57 per share predicted by analysts in a Thomson Reuters poll.

Total wireless revenues, which include equipment sales, were up 5.4 percent on the year to US$16.1 billion, while data revenues increased by more than US$1 billion (19.9 percent) to US$6.1 billion.

AT&T also sold 5.5 million smartphones in the period, exceeding a first-quarter sales record set last year, and representing more than 78 percent of postpaid device sales. It activated 4.3 million iPhones, and added 460,000 new tablets, tethering plans, aircards, mobile Wi-Fi hot spots and other data-only device subscribers. 

"Smartphone and branded computing device sales continue to set a record pace, mobile data revenues were up nearly 20 percent, and we achieved this growth with expanding margins,” said CEO Randall Stephenson.

AT&T's first-quarter wireless operating income margin was 27.2 percent versus 25.8 percent in the year-earlier quarter, while the wireless EBITDA service margin was 41.6 percent, compared with 39 percent a year ago.

AT&T posted a net increase in total wireless subscribers of 726,000 in Q1 to reach 103.9 million in service, just slightly behind the 734,000 added by rival Verizon Wireless in the same period.

On the fixed-line side, AT&T's revenues came in at US$14.9 billion, down 0.8 percent versus the year-earlier quarter.