It's getting to be about that time when carriers and other companies begin reporting their quarterly results. A week after Verizon shared its third quarter figures, AT&T has come forward to tell us all about how its Q3 2013 went.
AT&T revealed this afternoon that it added 989,000 subscribers in the third quarter. Postpaid net adds made up 363,000 of that total, a figure that AT&T says is more than double what it was in the year-ago quarter. Prepaid net adds finished the quarter at 192,000, connected device adds ended at 719,000 and resellers actually saw a loss of 285,000 customers, which AT&T says is due to losses in low-revenue 2G subscribers.
AT&T also took the time to dish about its smartphone stats today. The carrier says that it added 1.2 million smartphone subscribers during Q3 2013 and that, at the end of the quarter, 75 percent of its postpaid subscriber base (50.6 million people) owned a smartphone. That number is an increase from the 66 percent (44.5 million) in the year-ago quarter. In all, AT&T sold 6.7 million smartphones in the quarter, which it says is a third-quarter record.
Moving on to shared plans, Ol' Blue says that adoption of its usage-based plans is on the rise. Around 72 percent of AT&T postpaid subscribers are on a usage-based offering, up from 64 percent one year ago, and AT&T says that around 80 percent of those customers are on a medium to high data plan. Looking at Mobile Share plans specifically, AT&T reports that it had approximately 5.3 million active Mobile Share accounts at the end of Q3 2013, with each account averaging three devices each.
Finally, AT&T shared some of its Q3 2013 financial stats. The big blue operator gained wireless revenues of $17.5 billion in the quarter, a figure that's up 5.5 percent year over year. Wireless service revenues for the quarter ended at $15.5 billion, while wireless operating income finished at $4.6 billion, a number that's up 3.4 percent from the year-ago quarter.
It looks like AT&T had itself a nice little quarter, gaining nearly a million new subscribers and growing its smartphone-toting subscriber base compared to the total from Q2 2013. The carrier didn't dive into specifics on its smartphone sales for the quarter, saying only that it sold a total of 6.7 million units, but it's possible that we'll get more info during AT&T's earnings call that's taking place right now. Stay tuned and I'll update you with any juicy details that AT&T may share.
Via AT&T
