AT&T Inc. reported a strong quarter, adding 2 million net new wireless subscribers to bring its subscriber base to 65.7 million.
Of its net additions, 1.2 million were retail postpaid customers, up more than 30% from retail postpaid gains during the same quarter of 2006.
AT&T also managed to cut its overall and postpaid churn rates. The company’s total churn rate was down to 1.7% from 1.8% in the year-ago quarter. Postpaid churn dropped from 1.5% in the third quarter of 2006 to 1.3% this year.
The company’s wireless revenues were up more than 14% year-over-year to $10.9 billion for the quarter, with service revenues boosted by 13.7%. AT&T posted its fifth consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth in average revenue per user, with ARPU up 2% to $50.82. Wireless data revenue grew strongly, up almost 64% year-over-year; the company said that the increase was driven by “both consumer and business data usage, including messaging, media bundles, laptop connectivity, smartphone connectivity and enterprise vertical market solutions.”
“We delivered an excellent third quarter,” said AT&T chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson.
