AT&T made over $800 million in wireless data revenue last fall, thanks to a glut of new 3G users. Unfortunately, that also puts extra strain on their already-clogged data pipes. And we’ve still got all that iPad traffic ahead.
AT&T’s plans to fix things up include a $2 billion increase in the amount of spending on their wireless network, and an increased focus on HSPA 7.2 (which the iPhone 3GS runs on) and LTE deployment. They expect the “majority” of mobile data to be on fiber-based backhaul (that’s a good thing!) by the end of 2010, but honestly that long a time horizon makes me nervous.
There’ll be a call at 10am EST to discuss earnings results further, and we’ll listen in for any more interesting tidbits. In the meantime, the full release is below.
AT&T Reports Fourth-Quarter Earnings Growth with a 2.7 Million Net Gain in Wireless Subscribers, Continued Strong Growth in IP-Based Revenues, Record Full-Year Cash Flow
* $0.51 diluted EPS for the fourth quarter versus $0.41 in the year-earlier period
* $34.4 billion full-year cash from operating activities versus $33.7 billion in 2008, and $17.1 billion free cash flow, up 28.4 percent versus 2008 (free cash flow is cash from operations minus capital expenditures)
* 2.7 million fourth-quarter net addition in total wireless subscribers, the second highest quarterly net gain in the company’s history; full-year wireless net adds totaled 7.3 million, equaling the company’s best-ever annual total, to reach 85.1 million subscribers in service
