Market Commentary and Intraday News

A look at telecom-industry subscriber reports

329 days ago

By The Associated Press

Telecommunications companies have begun releasing their earnings reports for the latest quarter. Here is a summary of reports for selected telecommunications companies and what they reveal about their own and the industry's prospects.

_ July 19: Verizon Communications Inc. says its wireless unit gained a net 1.2 million subscribers _ a strong result in an industry where subscriber gains have tapered off now that nearly everyone has a cellphone. Of the new subscribers, 888,000 were on contract-based plans, which are the most lucrative. Verizon Wireless has 94.2 million retail subscribers. The profit margin at Verizon Wireless was the highest ever, as average monthly fees for contract-signing subscribers rose 3.7 percent to $56.13. Verizon is benefiting from the growing popularity of smartphones, which come with data fees.

_ Tuesday: AT&T Inc. says it saw declining smartphone sales, leading to the best profitability ever in its wireless arm as it saved on phone subsidies. It activated 5.1 million smartphones in its latest quarter, down from 5.5 million a year ago. Much of the decline came because AT&T subscribers are holding on to their phones longer. AT&T added a net 320,000 subscribers on contract-based plans in the quarter. However, more than half of the new subscribers were tablet users, who pay less than smartphone users.

Coming up:

_ Thursday: Sprint Nextel Corp., MetroPCS Communications Inc.

_ July 31: Frontier Communications Corp.

_ Aug. 6: Leap Wireless International Inc.

_ Aug. 8: CenturyLink Inc.

_ Aug. 9: T-Mobile USA, a unit of Deutsche Telekom AG; Windstream Corp.

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