AT&T Inc reported fourth-quarter results that showed sustained momentum in customer additions across 5G and fiber and solid growth in wireless service and broadband revenues.
Focused on growing customer relationships, in 5G Wireless, there were 2.9 million postpaid phone net adds while there were 1.2 million AT&T Fiber net adds.
Speaking during AT&T’s fourth-quarter earnings conference call, CEO John Stankey said: “Our growth was not only robust but profitable with 2022 being the most profitable year ever for our mobility business. We expect profit growth to continue in 2023 as we benefit from the investments we've made in our business over the last 2.5 years.”
Zooming in on this, AT&T’s mobility revenues were up 1.7% YoY to $21.5 billion due to higher service revenues. Service revenues were $15.4 billion, up 5.2% due to the subscriber and postpaid ARPU growth.
Domestic wireless service revenues are up 5.2% while consumer broadband revenues were up 7.2% driven by AT&T Fiber revenue growth of more than 31%.
“The financial benefits of our fiber focus are also becoming increasingly apparent as full-year fiber revenue growth of nearly 29% has led to sustainable revenue and profit growth in our Consumer Wireline business,” added the CEO.
AT&T’s mid-band 5G spectrum is currently covering 150 million people, more than two times higher than the original end-of-year target. “Our goal remains to deploy our spectrum efficiently and in a manner that supports traffic growth,” Stankey explained.
Revenues from continuing operations for Q4 2022 totaled $31.3 billion versus $31.1 billion in the year-ago quarter, up 0.8%, but for the full year, revenues are down 9.9% amounting to $120.7 billion versus $134.0 billion in 2021.
For the full-year 2023, AT&T expects its wireless service revenue as well as broadband revenue to grow by 4-5% or higher.
“We feel confident that our growth and profit trends are sustainable despite the uncertain macroeconomic backdrop,” Stankey said in summary.