AT&T posts 30.5% wireless data revenue jump in Q3

AT&T (NYSE:T) activated 5.2 million iPhones in the third quarter of 2010--a number 62 percent higher than the 3.2 million quarterly activation record set in Q2--as its revenues grew to $31.6 billion, up 2.5 percent quarter-over-quarter and increasing 2.8 percent year-over-year. AT&T added 2.6 million wireless subscribers in the third quarter, and now serves 92.8 million users--the operator credited the leap to accelerating smartphone adoption, increases in prepaid subscribers and growth across a host of connected devices including ereaders, security systems, fleet management and GPS units. In all, AT&T activated 8 million postpaid integrated devices during the period; 57.3 percent of its 67.7 million postpaid subscribers now own integrated devices, up from 42.0 percent a year earlier. Postpaid churn came in at 1.14 percent, matching the carrier's third-quarter record set a year ago.

AT&T's wireless data revenues totaled $4.8 billion in Q3, up 30.5 percent year-over-year as subscribers on data plans increased by 21.5 percent over the past 12 months. Postpaid subscriber ARPU increased 2.0 percent versus the year-earlier quarter to $62.84, heralding the seventh consecutive quarter AT&T has posted a year-over-year increase in postpaid ARPU--postpaid data ARPU grew to $22.02, up 19.5 percent annually. AT&T adds that compared to year-ago totals, text message volume increased about 34 percent to 161 billion and multimedia messages more than doubled to 2.8 billion. 

For more on AT&T's Q3 2010 results:
- read this release
- also check out this FierceWireless Q3 earnings page

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