AT&T announced its earnings for the third quarter of 2012 and its wireless business continues to show strong performance. Wireless revenue for the company was up 6.6 percent to $16.6 billion and wireless churn was at an all-time low for the quarter. The carrier also posted its strongest ARPU (average monthly revenues per subscriber) boost in six quarters with a 2.4 percent jump up to $65.20.
Smartphone sales were strong with company selling 6.1 million units in the quarter. The carrier activated 4.8M iPhones and remains the top iPhone carrier in the US, beating out Verizon Wireless which sold 3.1M iPhones. More that 45.5 million customers on AT&T own a smartphone, which is about 64 percent of its postpaid subscriber base. New smartphone sales are also strong with smartphones accounting for 80 percent of postpaid sales.
AT&T added 678,000 wireless subscribers in the quarter and now has 105.9 million wireless connections. Its LTE coverage is expanding faster than expected and the carrier is on pace to double its LTE POPs in 2012. Its network stability is also improving, with a dropped call rate below 0.75 percent. This is a 34 percent year over year improvement.
[Via AT&T]