AT&T announced that it delivered strong wireless growth in the first quarter,
reflecting the company's high-quality network, innovative services,
attractive handset selection, extensive sales reach and continued
improvements in operations.
First-quarter 2008 results included:
- Accelerated Wireless Revenue Growth -Total wireless revenues increased 18.3 percent versus the year-earlier first quarter to $11.8 billion
- Wireless service revenues, which exclude handset and accessory sales, grew 17.1 percent to $10.6 billion.
- Revenue growth was driven by strong subscriber gains and continued improvement in ARPU (average monthly revenues per subscriber).
- AT&T has now posted seven consecutive quarters of year-over-year growth in wireless service ARPU, which was $50.18 in the first quarter, up 2.0 percent versus the year-earlier first quarter. Retail postpaid subscriber ARPU growth was even stronger, up approximately 5 percent.
Robust Growth in Wireless Data Services.
Wireless data revenues grew 57.3 percent versus results in the
year-earlier first quarter to $2.3 billion, reflecting robust increases
in Internet access, e-mail, messaging, data access and media bundles.
Data now represents 21.5 percent of AT&T's total wireless service
revenues, up from 16.0 percent in the first quarter of 2007 and 10.9
percent in the first quarter of 2006. During the first quarter,
AT&T's wireless customers sent more than 620 million multimedia
messages and 44 billion text messages, both volumes more than double
totals in the year-earlier first quarter.
Improved Wireless Subscriber Gains.
AT&T's first-quarter net gain in wireless subscribers totaled 1.3
million, up 104,000, or 8.7 percent, versus net adds in the
year-earlier first quarter. AT&T ended the quarter with 71.4
million subscribers in service. Total net adds in the first quarter
were reduced by approximately 330,000 because of the shutdown of
AT&T's TDMA wireless network in late February. Retail postpaid net
adds totaled 705,000 in the first quarter, up 3.7 percent versus net
adds in the year-earlier first quarter.
Strong Gross Adds.
AT&T continued its strong record of wireless subscriber flow share
with 5.0 million first-quarter gross subscriber additions, up from 4.3
million in the year-earlier first quarter. Total average monthly
subscriber churn, which includes postpaid, prepaid and reseller
subscribers, was 1.7 percent, flat with the year-earlier first quarter
and with the fourth quarter of 2007. Retail postpaid churn was 1.2
percent, down from 1.3 percent in the year-earlier first quarter and
flat with the fourth quarter of 2007.
Strong Wireless Operating Income Growth.
On a reported basis, AT&T's first-quarter wireless operating
expenses totaled $8.9 billion, and operating income was $3.0 billion,
up 94.1 percent from $1.5 billion in the first quarter of 2007. On an
adjusted basis, wireless operating expenses, which exclude
merger-related costs, totaled $8.3 billion, and operating income was
$3.5 billion, up 38.5 percent from $2.5 billion in the first quarter of
2007.
Wireless Margin Expansion.
AT&T's reported wireless operating income margin was 25.0 percent,
up from 15.2 percent in the year-earlier first quarter, and its
adjusted wireless operating income margin was 29.8 percent, up from
25.5 percent in the year-earlier first quarter. AT&T's
first-quarter wireless OIBDA service margin was 41.7 percent, the
highest ever achieved by the company's wireless segment, up from an
unadjusted 37.5 percent and an adjusted 38.9 percent in the
year-earlier first quarter. (OIBDA service margin is operating income
before depreciation and amortization, divided by total service
revenues.)