AT&T on Q2 conference call -- shares continue to tick higher in after market trade (
- Saw impressive gains in strategic business services and strong Wireline consumer revenue growth
- Noted "moves to transform the company are working and working well"
- Also said "moves to reposition our smartphone customer base are working, achieving the expected results"
- Mgmt noted best ever margins and ARPU growth attributed to BYOD
- Highlighted most significant shift of company's smartphone customers to mobile share value plants is behind company -- this has helped stabilized service revenues, which were essentially flat for the quarter
- Postpaid phone only revenues increased sequentially, reaching its highest level in three quarters
- Next upgrade cycle is halfway through, and as such expect ARPU to grow
- AT&T Next revenues has farther to go, as about 68% of smartphone sales were on AT&T Next, but only 37% of customer base is on Next
- Expect penetration rates for both mobile share value and AT&T Next to continue to grow
- Highest net adds in more than three years -- 410K postpaid net adds, with about 600K tablets and computing devices -- 1 million connected car net adds