SBC Communications said it installed 315,000 DSL lines in the second quarter, giving it a total of 4.3 million, up 54 percent from a year ago. Those figures helped the telco to record best-ever quarterly data revenues of $2.7 billion, up 9.5 percent.
Also on the financial front, SBC posted earnings of $1.2 billion (35 cents per diluted share), and relatively flat revenues of $10.3 billion, compared to $10.2 billion in the year-earlier period.
SBC said it had signed up 121,000 digital satellite video subscribers at the end of the quarter, hitting that mark “with minimal advertising.” SBC is offering DBS video services via a co-marketing partnership with EchoStar Communications.
“In both long distance and DSL, our weekly run rates improved substantially as we moved through June, and we have begun the third quarter with solid momentum,” claimed SBC Chairman & CEO Edward Whitacre.
SBC reiterated that it could spend $4 billion to $6 billion to fuel a dual fiber-to-the-premises (in greenfield areas) and fiber-to-the-node strategy “pending final clarity on applicable regulatory requirements” and successful trials, which are set to kick off this summer.
