Additional wireless phone lines and achieving a key milestone for its land-based fiber broadband service helped AT&T achieve higher revenue during the third quarter of 2023.
AT&T saw its overall revenue increase on a sequential basis during the company’s third financial quarter of 2023, despite adding more wireless phone lines and achieving a new milestone with its land-based fiber network.
On Thursday, the company said it brought in $30.4 billion during the three-month period that ended September 30. The revenue was around 1.6 percent higher than the previous quarter and 1 percent higher on a year-over basis.
During the quarter, AT&T says it added 468,000 postpaid wireless lines as customers took advantage of various device and service promotions. The company also added nearly 300,000 AT&T Fiber customers, helping it pass the 8 million subscriber mark for that service.
“Our investments in best-in-class 5G and fiber connectivity are fueling our growth engine. We’re gaining profitable customer relationships and becoming more efficient,” John Stankey, the CEO of AT&T, said in a statement Thursday morning. “This is powering our strong business performance and gives us the confidence to raise our full-year free cash flow guidance. We are pleased that customers are choosing AT&T and staying with us over the long run as we connect and simplify their digital world.”
In addition to its wireless and Fiber-based gains, AT&T also achieved a number of other milestones during Q3, including the launch of “AT&T Internet Air,” its fixed-wireless broadband Internet solution that is set to compete with cable broadband and comparable services offered by T-Mobile and Verizon.
AT&T also supported satellite designer AST SpaceMobile in completing the first 5G voice call delivered via satellite. The company said the call was made using “two unmodified smartphones via a low-earth orbit satellite in space,” and was the first of its type to happen anywhere in the world.
AT&T said its revenue gains were attributed in large part to higher consumer wireless and broadband earnings, offset partially by lower revenue from its enterprise customers. Operating expenses came in at $24.6 billion during the quarter, slightly up from the $24 billion reported last year, which AT&T blamed on higher inflation.
The company saw lower wireless churn this quarter compared to the same period last year, reported at just under 1 percent. Most of the churn appeared to be reflected in consumers shutting off AT&T services on their tablets and smartwatches; AT&T reported a tablet and smartwatch loss of 48,000 lines.
Sources
Information from this article was obtained through two press releases issued by AT&T — one on July 26, the other on Thursday — related to the company’s second-quarter and third-quarter earnings, respectively. Certain financial information was compared between the two press releases, and percentages were calculated by The Desk based on data reported by AT&T. The quote from CEO John Stankey was included in the press release supplied by the company, as was information about AT&T’s first ground-to-satellite 5G voice call and the number of fiber customers served.
