AT&T revives wireless revenue via media business in Q2

AT&T mobility revenue Q2 2018AT&T announced revenue of $39 billion in Q2 2018 against $39.8 billion in Q2 2017. The second quarter revenue includes $1.1 billion revenue – 16-days’ revenue — of Time Warner. AT&T closed the $85 billion Time Warner deal on June 14.

AT&T generated revenue of $17.3 billion from mobility business in US, $11.7 billion from entertainment group, $9.1 billion from business solutions and $2 billion from international business.

The second-largest U.S. carrier by subscribers started bundling media company Time Warner’s content with new wireless plans in an effort to drive subscriber growth in the US wireless market in order to take on Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile.
AT&T revenue business Q2 2018AT&T added 46,000 post-paid mobile phone subscribers and 356,000 pre-paid phone connections in the second quarter. The total net addition was 3.1 million primarily due to connected devices.

AT&T added 342,000 DIRECTV NOW connections to reach more than 1.8 million subscribers. AT&T added 80,000 video connections, an improvement of 279,000 from last year.

AT&T said it achieved wireless service revenue growth in Q2 2018, first time since first quarter 2014. AT&T expects continued improvement in second half, with growth for the full year 2018.

“It was an exciting quarter for AT&T as we completed the acquisition of Time Warner on June 14 and created a modern media company built around premium content, 170 million direct-to-customer relationships, advertising technology and high-speed networks,” said Randall Stephenson, AT&T chairman and CEO.
AT&T revenue Q2 2018AT&T said its operating expenses were $32.5 billion versus $33.3 billion, primarily due to the netting of USF and other regulatory fee revenues and the deferral of commissions under ASC 606.

AT&T reported operating income of $6.5 billion, stable versus the year-ago quarter; and operating income margin of 16.6 percent versus 16.4 percent. AT&T posted net income of $5.1 billion, or $0.81 per diluted share, versus $3.9 billion, or $0.63 per diluted share.

Capital expenditures (Capex) of AT&T were $5.1 billion. Capital investment included about $275 million in FirstNet capital costs and reflects about $300 million in FirstNet reimbursements. AT&T is aiming for a capital investment of approximately $25 billion; $22 billion net of expected FirstNet reimbursements and vendor financing.