AT&T mobile data revenues grow to $3.6 billion in Q3

AT&T reported third quarter net income of $3.19 billion, down 1.2 percent from $3.23 billion a year earlier but [1]highlighted by the addition of 2 million new wireless subscribers, the highest Q3 net gain in company history. According to AT&T, its wireless subscriber total increased by 6.7 million over the past 12 months to 81.6 million--the operator activated 3.2 million new iPhones in Q3, its largest quarterly total to date, adding that 40 percent of new activations involved customers new to AT&T. Postpaid subscriber ARPU increased 3.8 percent versus the year-earlier quarter to $61.23, and total wireless average monthly subscriber churn dropped to 1.43 percent from 1.69 percent in the year-ago quarter.

AT&T reports that wireless data revenues increased $916 million, or 33.6 percent, from year-ago third quarter totals of $3.6 billion--more than double the company's total in the third quarter two years earlier. Data accounted for 29.4 percent of AT&T's wireless service revenues in Q3, up from 24.2 percent a year ago and 18.4 percent in the third quarter of 2007. Postpaid data ARPU increased to $18.37, up 25 percent year-over-year and up 3.7 percent sequentially. AT&T subscribers sent more than 120 billion text messages in Q3, almost double the total for the year-earlier quarter.

For more on AT&T's Q3 results:
- read this release [2]
- see AT&T metrics [1]
- for complete coverage of the third quarter earnings season, click here [3]

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