Total wireless subscribers (business and consumer) increased by 1.36 million to reach 131.8 million, and increase of about 7.9 million over the past year. The company added 2.1 million net wireless subscribers and recorded its second lowest postpaid churn rate in the USA ever at 0.87%.
Advertisement
AT&T is preparing to launch a set of DirecTV-branded OTT video services in the fourth quarter of 2016.
AT&T shares fell as much as 1.8 percent to $41.74 in late trading after the earnings report.
AT&T said it added 342,000 satellite TV subscribers in the second quarter, compared with the average analyst estimate of 285,000, according to FactSet StreetAccount. The carrier ended the period with 380 million North American 4G/LTE POPs.
Domestic postpaid churn slipped below 1% for the quarter, dipping from 1.01% last year to.97% this year. A almost identical drop in expenses left the carrier with basically flat year-over-year operating income at $5.3 billion, though it did manage to boost operating income margins almost 1% to 29.8% in its latest quarter. “Cost synergies are ahead of target, we’ve added almost 1 million DIRECTV subscribers since the acquisition, and our new video streaming services are scheduled to roll out later this year”.
Revenue growth reflects the acquisition of satellite TV operator DirecTV. Diluted adjusted earnings at 72 cents a share matched the Street’s expectations.
Revenue for AT&T’s entertainment group segment jumped to $12.71 billion from $5.78 billion in the year-earlier period.
“One year after our acquisition of DirecTV, the success of the integration has exceeded our expectations”, said Randall Stephenson, AT&T chairman and CEO, in announcing the results.
Advertisement
In terms of network expansion, AT&T said it plans to begin tapping into 40 megahertz of “readily available” spectrum in the 1.7/2.1 GHz and 2.3 GHz bands over the next several years, as well as continues to refarm 1.9 GHz and 850 MHz spectrum now supporting its 2G and 3G network.
