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U.S. telco added 2.8 million mobile subscribers but its lucrative branded postpaid phone base declined.
AT&T late on Tuesday reported fourth quarter revenue growth of 22% year-on-year thanks to the contribution from DirecTV; however, it lost valuable postpaid phone customers.
The U.S.-based telco added 2.8 million mobile subscribers in total during the three months to 31 December. Its domestic business accounted for 2.2 million of that total, while its operations in Mexico made up the remaining 600,000.
In the U.S., AT&T added 526,000 postpaid subscribers, while the prepaid base increased by 469,000. The company also added 1.2 million non-smartphone connections during the quarter. However, AT&T’s branded postpaid phone base fell by 256,000.
AT&T ended 2015 with an overall mobile customer base of 128.6 million in the U.S., plus a further 8.7 million in Mexico.
In terms of video customers, 214,000 fourth quarter net additions at DirecTV were more than offset by the loss of 240,000 U-verse subscribers, meaning AT&T’s overall video base fell to 25.40 million from 25.42 million in the previous quarter.
Fixed broadband customers fell to 14.29 million from 14.4 million a year earlier due to continued declines in AT&T’s DSL base, tempered slightly by growth in fibre customers.
In a statement, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson insisted that his company has "a unique set of capabilities that positions us for growth and also gives us a strategic advantage in providing consumers and businesses the integrated mobile, video and data solutions they want."
On the financial side, AT&T generated revenue of US$42.12 billion (€38.75 billion) during the fourth quarter, up from $34.44 billion a year earlier, thanks to the contribution from DirecTV.
"Our DirecTV integration is going well, and the customer response to our new integrated mobile and entertainment offers is strong. Throughout this year, we plan to launch a variety of new video entertainment packages that give customers even more choices," Stephenson said.
AT&T swung to an operating profit of $7.53 billion from a year earlier loss of $5.47 billion, when AT&T recorded $10 billion of charges related to its pension and benefit schemes, the decommissioning of certain network assets, and a loss on the sale of wireline operations in Connecticut.
AT&T reported a net profit of $4.01 billion, compared to $2.99 billion in the previous quarter and a loss of $4.00 billion a year ago.
Looking ahead, AT&T expects double-digit consolidated revenue growth, and adjusted earnings per share growth in the mid-single digit range or better in 2016. Capital spending is expected to come in at around $22 billion.
