Despite Subscriber Growth $T Posts a Miss in Revenues

“Competition is undeniably tight in the wireless-carrier market, especially between market leadersAT&T (NYSE:T) and Verizon (NYSE:VZ), which together hold almost a duopoly.

While Verizon did not report as many smartphone activations as it did in the previous quarter, AT&T’sfirst-quarter results, reported after the market closed Tuesday, showed that the carrier amassed 1.2 million new smartphone subscribers, a figure that contributed to the company’s best-ever first quarter in terms of smartphone sales. Now, more than 72 percent, or approximately 48.3 million, of all the company’s on-contract customers own smartphones. Additionally, AT&T added 296,000 new postpaid customers during the quarter.

For technology companies and wireless carriers alike, smartphones — along with their related accessories and services — are the most profitable business sectors. In evidence of this, AT&T’s gains in smartphone sales and contracts pushed its wireless revenue to $16.7 billion, an increase of 4 percent from the year-ago quarter.

In comparison, AT&T’s primary rival, Verizon, reported last week that it had added 677,000 new subscribers during the last quarter and sold 7.2 million smartphones…”

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