AT&T's net income, revenue up in Q3

AT&T Inc. reported net income of $2.2 billion for the third quarter of 2006, up significantly from $1.2 billion before SBC and AT&T Corp. merged last November.

Before the merger the old AT&T posted net income of $520 million for the third quarter of 2005. The new AT&T's net income, released Monday, still outpaced the combined net incomes of the two companies by nearly 23%.

Growth in nearly all areas, including large-business services and consumer and business wireline service, fueled the quarterly report. AT&T's directory services posted a 5.3% drop from SBC's third quarter of 2005, but that was the only business segment with a decline.

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AT&T Inc. reported net income of $2.2 billion for the third quarter of 2006, up significantly from $1.2 billion before SBC and AT&T Corp. merged last November.

Before the merger the old AT&T posted net income of $520 million for the third quarter of 2005. The new AT&T's net income, released Monday, still outpaced the combined net incomes of the two companies by nearly 23%.

Growth in nearly all areas, including large-business services and consumer and business wireline service, fueled the quarterly report. AT&T's directory services posted a 5.3% drop from SBC's third quarter of 2005, but that was the only business segment with a decline.

The new company had a "great" third quarter, Edward Whitacre, AT&T's chairman and CEO, said in a written statement. AT&T is meeting its goals of integrating the operations of the old AT&T and ramping up the financial performance of Cingular Wireless, and the company has "excellent momentum," he said.

AT&T posted revenue of $15.6 billion, or 56 cents per share, for the third quarter, which ended Sept. 30. That's up nearly 52% from SBC's third quarter revenue of $10.3 billion in the third quarter of 2005. The old AT&T posted revenue of $6.6 billion in the third quarter of 2005, meaning that, compared to the combined revenue of the two old companies, the new AT&T's revenue dropped slightly.

Cingular Wireless, which AT&T co-owns with BellSouth, had revenue of $9.6 billion for the third quarter, up more than 9% from the $8.7 billion revenue from a year earlier. Income at Cingular was $1.1 billion, up from $326 million in the same period of last year.

Lindner pointed to a strong quarter at Cingular as part of AT&T's overall success. The wireless provider added 1.4 million customers in the quarter, reaching 58.7 million customers, AT&T said. "There's no other way to say it, it's just terrific progress at Cingular," he said.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.