RANK/COMPANY NET INCOME (000’s)
1 AT&T Corp. $5,608,000
2 British Telecom $3,034,000
3 BellSouth Corp. $2,863,000
4 GTE Corp. $2,798,000
5 Ameritech Corp. $2,134,000
6 SBC Communications Inc. $2,101,000
7 Bell Atlantic Corp. $1,739,400
8 Nynex Corp. $1,346,000
9 U S West $1,249,000
10 Sprint Corp. $1,189,600
11 Alltel Corp. $290,666
12 AirTouch Communications Inc. $178,900
13 United States Cellular Corp. $129,929
14 Century Telephone Inc. $129,077
15 Telephone & Data Systems Inc. $126,293
16 BCE Mobile Communications $63,900
17 3600 Communications Co. $59,519
18 Vanguard Cellular Systems Inc. $6,449
19 Palmer Wireless Inc. $4,682
20 Rural Cellular Corp. $3,477
21 Metro One Telecommunications $1,166
22 Intellicell Corp. $315
23 Mobile Mini Inc. $70
24 Paging Partners Corp. -$2,716
25 CommNet Cellular Inc. -$4,396
26 Teletouch Communications Inc. -$6,657
27 Pittencrieff Communications -$7,463
28 Preferred Networks Inc. -$11,677
29 Associated Group Inc. -$17,196
30 Intercel Inc. -$25,028
31 PriCellular Corp. -$29,221
32 Centennial Cellular Corp. -$30,221
33 ProNet Inc. -$40,043
34 Metrocall Inc. -$46,235
35 PageMart Wireless Inc. -$48,598
36 Comcast Corp. -$52,500
37 Paging Network Inc. -$81,820
38 Century Communications Corp. -$106,373
39 Arch Communications Group Inc. -$113,094
40 Omnipoint Corp. -$126,930
41 Western Wireless Corp. -$130,105
42 Geotek Communications Inc. -$146,280
43 MTel Corp. -$183,417
44 Nextel Communications, Inc. -$556,020
Footnote: Lucent Technologies net income excludes business restructuring & other charges.
The big news in the key indicator of net income is the meteoric rise of BellSouth Corp., which placed near the bottom of the top-tier players in 1995, to a third-place ranking last year. Likewise, Ameritech Corp., which was several notches above BellSouth near the bottom of the top players in 1995, pulled a fifth place spot in 1996. Similarly, GTE Corp., a middle-of-the-pack player in 1995, rose to the number four spot in 1996 behind AT&T Corp., British Telecom and BellSouth.
Heading south on the rankings for last year was U S West Communications, which clocked in at ninth this year, compared with its fourth place finish among carriers the prior year.
