Despite the huge task of cleaning up after Hurricane Katrina, BellSouth posted respectable increases in high-speed and satellite TV subscribers in the fourth quarter.
Reporting Wedneday, BellSouth said it netted 204,000 new DSL customers in Q4, down slightly from 205,000 new subscribers in the third quarter and down a bit more from 224,000 in the year-ago period. The company said its new simplified pricing and higher data speeds are luring new DSL subscribers and nudging down its customer churn rate.
BellSouth, now the leader among the Baby Bells in signing up phone customers for satellite TV service, said it added another 63,000 DirecTV subscribers in the fall quarter. The company closed 2005 with 523,000 DirecTV customers.
Overall, BellSouth reported consolidated revenue from continuing operations edged up nearly 2 percent to $5.2 billion while net income from continuing operations climbed by more than 33 percent to $618 million. The company, which lost 60,000 access lines because of the hurricane, said it now expects that it will take $700 million to $900 million to restore its battered phone network.