AT&T reports its best ever first quarter profitability
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While AT&T went and reported some mixed Q1 earnings, sending its stock in a tailspin, the stellar performance of its mobile division was undeniable. AT&T's mobility unit clocked its best ever profitability for the first quarter, with 8% rise in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA).
In short, AT&T's cellular business did great last quarter, but the rest of its portfolio - not so much. Out of its $30.22B in revenue, a grand total of $20.6B came from the mobility unit which added no less than 424,000 of the coveted postpaid phone subscribers in Q1.
Furthermore, AT&T's churn rate - the number of people leaving the network for greener pastures - was also very low, at just 0.81% for postpaid subscribers, and 2.73% for prepaid. All in all, AT&T netted $6 billion in operating income this past quarter, about $500 million more than Q1 of last year.
Seeking Alpha analysts peg AT&T's good cellular phone business performance at its increased 5G network coverage and attractive phone price promotions during the quarter, like the Samsung Galaxy S23 deals it had, especially the ones for the mighty Galaxy S23 Ultra.
As for the 5G network coverage expansion, AT&T is no T-Mobile just yet, but it now blankets 160 million people with its 5G network, way ahead of what was thought possible last year at that time. Hopefully, AT&T will keep its good promotions going strong in the current quarter as well.
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