AT&T Networks Drive 2013 Growth
By Megan Zielinski, contributing writer
Project VIP will enable delivery of high-speed cloud and Ethernet connections
Climbing numbers in Q4 prompted Randall Stephenson, AT&T chairman and CEO to declare 2013 “the year of the network.” AT&T’s total revenue was $128.8 billion, up from $127.4 billion the previous year.
Total wireless revenues, including the sales of equipment, reached $18.4 billion in 2013 — an increase of 4.5 percent from 2012. Postpaid phone earnings increased a total of 3.9 percent in Q4 2013 from Q4 2012, making it the 20th consecutive quarter of increases in postpaid data for AT&T. Smartphones and tablets drove an increase in total wireless subscribers for the fourth quarter — total net adds of postpaid and prepaid smartphones reached 529,000 and tablets reached 440,000. At the end of the fourth quarter, more than 77 percent of AT&T postpaid phone subscribers owned smartphones, an increase of 47.1 million from 2012. Smartphone users set a new record, accounting for 93 percent of all phone in the fourth quarter 2013. AT&T’s Mobile Share plan is now used by 29 percent of postpaid customers, reaching 7.1 million in Q4 2013. (Read more about AT&T in the ISR magazine article, "How AT&T's New Store Design Engages The Customer".)
In addition, AT&T experienced double-digit growth in strategic business services. Sales of next-generation services including Ethernet, cloud, and other advanced IP services offset the decline of sales in outdated products. The number of users of Consumer U-verse — a combination of TV, high speed Internet, and broadband, increased by 46 percent from 2012 to 2013. U-verse revenues, including business consumers, totaled to $13 billion in 2013 compared to 2012, an increase of 27.9 percent.
A Fierce Telecom article states AT&T’s outlook for 2014 includes the completion of the $14 billion Project Velocity IP. The project will upgrade AT&T’s wireline services to deliver high-speed cloud and Ethernet connections. By the end of 2013, AT&T planned to pass 250,000 business customer locations with fiber replacements and add an additional 1 million business customers by the end of 2015. AT&T also plans to upgrade the broadband for home consumers this year. Financially, AT&T expects consolidated margins along with improvement in wireless margins to help counterbalance the cost of Project VIP. According to Stephenson, “The next steps are to make our networks even more powerful and layer on services that will drive new growth in the years ahead.” (Discover how tablets can improve the customer experience in this article from ISR Magazine.)