AT&T Added Over A Million More Subscribers, Talks Sunnier 5G Outlook - CNET

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AT&T's determination to ditch DirecTV and WarnerMedia and permission the video contented rodeo continues to wage disconnected arsenic the bearer reported adding much customers and was up of docket connected its 5G outlook during its 3rd 4th earnings.

With spinning disconnected of HBO Max's genitor institution and different properties safely down it, AT&T's refocus connected mobile and fibre net led to the summation of 708,000 much postpaid nett telephone subscribers successful the period, a metric the telecom manufacture uses arsenic an indicator of occurrence and dependable revenue. With customers migrating to higher-priced plans and buying much costly phones, the bearer reported 6% higher mobile revenues compared to the aforesaid play successful 2021.

"The immense bulk of our customers are talking to us, making adjustments to their plans, moving them into higher-value plans that … instrumentality much worth to the lawsuit allowing them to beryllium a stickier and longer-lived customer," CEO John Stankey said during AT&T's quarterly net call.

AT&T reported that it's up of docket with rolling retired its C-band 5G which it spent $27 cardinal acquiring past year and started activating successful January. The bearer already deed its end-of-year people of reaching 100 cardinal radical successful the US with this spirit of 5G, and revised its extremity to scope 130 cardinal radical by the extremity of 2022. These numbers don't see 3.45 GHz frequencies of 5G midband, which AT&T paid $9.1 cardinal acquiring successful January and is dilatory deploying this year.

AT&T's broadband net concern had a likewise bully quarter, too, gaining 338,000 postpaid nett subscribers for wired fiber. Internet revenues were up 6.1% implicit the aforesaid play past year, partially from transitioning customers from older copper-line net to the newer fibre service.

"Our yields connected fibre customers are overmuch amended than our copper customers," Stankey said.

The fibre gains travel a time aft a Bloomberg report stating that AT&T would beryllium dramatically expanding its fibre net web successful the US. The bearer volition beryllium joined by banker Morgan Stanley to walk betwixt $10 cardinal and $15 cardinal successful a associated task to rotation retired much high-speed wired net crossed the country. AT&T declined to remark connected the story.

AT&T is doubling down connected fibre astatine a clip erstwhile rivals Verizon and T-Mobile are investing heavy successful wireless net implicit their 5G networks. AT&T does connection wireless internet, but lone successful the uncommon areas wherever its fibre net won't reach.

"I'd alternatively instrumentality a cardinal caller fibre customers a twelvemonth than a cardinal caller fixed wireless customers a year," Stankey said, noting that fibre subscribers had much worth to shareholders successful the agelong haul.

AT&T surely has the agelong crippled successful caput with fiber, and is experimenting with 20-gigabit connections that would acold outstrip existent speeds that apical retired astatine 5 Gbps.

AT&T reported $30 cardinal successful revenues successful the 3rd quarter, down 4.1% compared to the aforesaid play past twelvemonth owed to yet splitting disconnected HBO Max and the different WarnerMedia video properties successful July, resulting successful an adjusted net of $0.68 per share. That's astir wherever industry estimates of $0.71 EPS expected the carrier's gross to be.

Despite concerns connected the net telephone of inflation, Stankey was cautiously optimistic astir AT&T's outlook. Poorer economical conditions could interaction smaller businesses, but the bearer doesn't person capable of those to endanger immoderate shrinking of revenue.

"We're under-index(ed) successful that regard," Stankey admitted during the call, though helium said AT&T was dilatory adding much tiny concern customers.

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