Helped by strong growth in wireless data, AT&T (NYSE: T) Q1 revs grew 6.1 percent to $30.7 billion, from $28.9 billion in the year-ago period. Net income was up 21.5 percent to $3.46 billion ($.57 per share) from $2.84 billion ($.45 per share). On an adjusted basis, net income was up 10.3 percent to $4.5 billion. Altogether, wireless revenue grew by 18.3 percent. Within this, wireless data was up a strong 57.3 percent to $2.3 billion. Data now accounts for over a fifth of total wireless revenue. The company claims 71.4 million total wireless subs, a net gain of 1.3 million in the quarter. ARPU came to $50.18, a 2 percent year-over-year increase. Postpaid ARPU was up 5 percent.
– The company said it had a net gain of 148,000 U-Verse TV subs in the quarter, bringing its total to 379,000. It expects to hit one million by the end of 2008 — the same goal it has stated in the past. Total broadband revenue was up 13.2 percent to $1.4 billion.
Release | Webcast (10:00 AM ET) | Slides (.pdf)
Conference call: A few months ago, AT&T execs were causing investors heartburn with worrisome comments about the economy. Now, oddly, it’s hardly a topic of conversation. In response to an analyst question, CFO Rick Lindner basically said the numbers would “speak for themselves” and that others can debate the effect of the economy. Later he added that the company was well positioned as a defensive company, should things weaken.
– iPhone: Folks listening to the call in hopes of some early insights into Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) were probably disappointed since there wasn’t much to say about the iPhone. So far, the trends are about the same. 40 percent of iPhone subscribers are new AT&T customers, and at least through the first quarter, there was no indication that customers were holding back, waiting for the 3G version.
– Metrics: As noted in the release, key metrics like churn and ARPU continue to improve, and the company seems to be sucking customers away from its competitors. It claims, plausibly, to be a net winner from number portability. An interesting note: 20 percent of pre-paid ARPU comes from data.
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