AT&T CEO says its iPhone 15 pre-orders were the best it has achieved in years

AT&T reported its third-quarter earnings the other day and the company delivered some outstanding numbers including a net gain of 468,000 postpaid phone users. This category is the gold standard since postpaid subscribers don't switch carriers that often. The company said that postpaid phone churn was at a historically low level of .79%. It also said that the average revenue per user (ARPU), at $55.99, was up .6% year-over-year thanks in part to customers switching to higher-priced unlimited plans thanks to iPhone promotions.

During the conference call following the earnings report, AT&T CEO John Stankey said (via the MotleyFool) that the carrier's iPhone 15 pre-orders were the strongest that the company has seen in years. Stankey said, "Our results show that our best deal for everyone approach continues to resonate with customers. For example, in September, we saw the strongest iPhone pre-orders we've had in many years despite competing promotions with higher subsidies allowing lower-value device trade-ins."

The executive also said, "For example, the vast majority of people taking our iPhone promotions are signing up for our highest-value plans, even though it's not a promo requirement. In fact, our highest-value unlimited plan is our fastest-growing plan. In addition, our network has never been better in terms of its size and quality as we continue to enhance the largest wireless network in North America and expand the nation's most reliable 5G network."

AT&T says that its mid-band 5G network now covers more than 190 million people and will reach 200 million before the end of the year. Mobility revenue rose 2% year-over-year to $20.7 billion thanks to a 3.7% gain in services revenue to $15.9 billion. Equipment revenue declined by 3.2% to $4.8 billion which was due to "lower device volume." Mobile EBITDA (Earnings before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) came in at company-record $8.9 billion for the quarter, up 7.6% year-over-year.

The entire company reported consolidated revenue of $30.4 billion, up 1% annually for the third quarter. Earnings per share from continuing operations was 64 cents versus the 68 cents per share reported during the same quarter last year.