Record 6 million smart phones sold in the quarter; 72-percent of postpaid customers now own smart phones
AT&T has just released its Q1 2013 earnings, which encompasses both its wireless and wireline businesses. Earnings for the quarter were generally strong, although they were counteracted by a fall in revenues in the wireline business. We're most interested in the wireless portion though, so we're going to focus on that. Here are the high points:
- $16.7 billion in total revenue, up 3.4-percent year-over-year
- $4.7 billion in operating income, up 4.1-percent y-o-y
- Wireless data revenues up 21-percent y-o-y
- 296,000 postpaid net customer additions
- Postpaid churn improved to 1.04-percent
- 1.2 million new smart phone subscribers
- Postpaid data ARPU up 18-percent
In nearly all metrics, AT&T is performing well on the wireless side of its business. The carrier added nearly 300,000 new customers, moved 1.2 million customers to smart phones, and says a full 72-percent of postpaid customers now own smart phones. AT&T sold a record 6 million smart phones in the quarter, which made up 88-percent of all postpaid phone sales. Data ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) shot up by 18-percent, and phone-only ARPU rose 2-percent.
Nearly 70-percent of AT&T's customers are now on usage-based (tiered data and Mobile Share) plans, which is up from 61-percent a year earlier. About 14-percent of AT&T's customers are now on Mobile Share plans, with an average of 3 devices per plan. About 25-percent of those Mobile Share plans are using 10GB of data or more per month, driving up data revenues.
On the network front, AT&T says it currently covers 200 million POPs with its LTE network, which is running ahead of schedule. By the end of 2013, it plans to reach 90-percent of its goal to have 300 million POPs covered. AT&T says 60-percent of its customers have a "4G" (aka HSPA+ or better) device, with over half of those being LTE devices.
Source: AT&T
Reader comments
AT&T Q1 2013: Wireless revenues of $16.7 billion, income of $4.7 billion
There was a time when the most important number from the carrier quarterly financial reports was the number of Android phone sold vs iPhones. Now you guys only mention the total without bothering with the breakdown. Could that be because the iPhone is outselling Android phones on the major carriers in the US? Like today's AT&T numbers which showed they sold 6 million smart phones in total. Of those, Android was among 1.2 million devices sold. 4.8 million were iPhones. No mention of that little fact anywhere. LOL
Troll much? You are correct there WAS a time when that stuff was mentioned, but most of us grew up.
Maybe because not every earnings report post needs to turn into a pissing match about which platform sold more devices?
AT&T sold phones. They offered services. They made a lot of money.
Agreed. If it's a pissing match, then why not compare the platforms worldwide then? I would care more about that than what the breakdown is in one country. Back to subject, the top two carriers are doing well, while Sprint seems to be struggling. They may have to take a serious look on that DISH offer.
Congrats AT&T you had a great quarter....now how about getting in gear with your phone updates!