AT&T: Mobile Internet Usage Fees Up 58%
29 January 2008- 2m iPhones Activated
- Double Digit Growth in Broadband Subscribers and Revenue
- Added 10,000 U-verse Pay-TV Subscribers Per Week in December
AT&T, always early to report despite being the US’ largest traditional telco, issued its financials this week for 2007’s fourth quarter. Digital media highlights include:
- Added 396,000 broadband subscribers, increasing its subscriber base to over 14 million. It had double digit increases in broadband subscribers and revenue. AT&T this week made a move that could help it increase its broadband subscriber numbers. It said all its broadband subscribers that have a 1.5 Mbps or higher plan will get free access to the company’s 10,000 or so Wi-Fi hotspots.
- Added almost 2.7 million wireless subscribers, the best quarterly gain ever for a US carrier. It ended 2007 with 70.1 million wireless customers, including the numbers for the recently acquired Dobson Communications. Verizon Wireless has not yet reported its fourth quarter numbers but usually falls just short of AT&T in total wireless subscribers.
-Activated about two million iPhone subscribers at the end of 2007. Apple said it had sold about four million iPhones as of January 15 but that includes overseas sales and sales of units to AT&T that have not yet been sold or activated.
- Mobile phone users are accessing the Internet more. AT&T’s wireless data revenue, which comes from the use of mobile devices to access the Internet, send e-mail and do text messaging, jumped 58%. That was no doubt helped by iPhone users’ seemingly insatiable need to “connect.” Where Wi-Fi is not available, the iPhone connects to the Net via its mobile phone service. Average revenue per mobile phone subscriber increased 1.9% to $50.28.
- Subscribers to AT&T’s U-verse pay-TV service increased to 231,000 on December 31 from the prior quarter’s 126,000. AT&T says it’s on track to sign up more than one million U-verse subscribers by the end of 2008. U-Verse is both a pay-TV and broadband access services that uses a hybrid fiber optic network that AT&T is building. AT&T’s goal is to add 10,000 U-verse pay-TV subscribers a week. In December it added 12,000 a week. Verizon had 717,000 subscribers to its FiOS pay TV service at the end of September.
Lowlights included AT&T’s continued decline in residential phone subscribers but it had fewer losses than it had expected. Consumers are disconnecting from their telco provided phone service at home and switching to mobile phones, Internet telephony (VoIP) that requires broadband or to a cable TV company’s phone service. Comcast recently said it is now the fourth largest phone company in the States.
Looking ahead, AT&T CFO Rick Lindner said despite potential economic downturns, trends “improved somewhat” for broadband subscriber growth compared to the fourth quarter and expected losses in wireline customers were “maybe” a little better than the fourth quarter numbers. “We’re clearly not seeing any impact in our wireless business. It’s just a limited impact in our access line and broadband results,” he said.
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