AT&T profits up 25 percent on wireless growth

From CNET News.com: AT&T posted a 25.6 percent increase in fourth-quarter earnings as its wireless and new TV businesses continued to grow.

In the quarter that ended December 31, AT&T said Thursday, it earned $3.09 billion, or 51 cents a share. During the same period a year ago, the company earned $2.4 billion, or 41 cents a share. Revenue for the fourth quarter dropped slightly by about 0.7 percent to $30.86 billion, mostly due to weak sales in AT&T's legacy local-phone business.

AT&T met analyst expectations, which had pegged the phone company to report revenue of about $30.87 billion and earn 51 cents per share.

Wireless was once again a hefty contributor to AT&T's bottom line. And it appears customers are still in love with the iPhone, despite complaints about the company's network. AT&T said it added 2.7 million new wireless customers during the quarter.

AT&T beat rival Verizon Wireless in total wireless subscription additions. Verizon reported this week that it added 2.2 million wireless customers during the fourth quarter.

That said, AT&T added only 910,000 so-called post-paid customers, who sign a contract for service. Verizon signed up about 1.2 million of these valuable customers. Customers on contracts typically pay more per month, and they tend not to leave the service as frequently as customers who pay as they go.

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