Even though AT&T’s wireless unit overshadows its wireline operations in quarterly reports, the wireline unit continues to thrive. The company added a net of 155,000 U-verse TV subscribers, to reach a total of 4.1 million.
AT&T added 553,000 U-verse broadband subscribers, to reach a total of 6.5 million U-verse broadband customers. That didn’t quite offset the losses on the DSL side of the broadband ledger; with DSL defections added into the mix, the company lost 96,000 wireline broadband connections during a quarter in which seasonal losses are common.
AT&T reported that U-verse revenue in its second quarter was up a healthy 38 percent compared to the results from Q2 2011, and up 10.2 percent sequentially.
More than 50 percent of U-verse broadband subscribers have a plan delivering speeds up to 12 Mbps or higher, up from 39 percent in the year-ago quarter, the company said. About 90 percent of new U-verse TV customers took AT&T U-verse high-speed Internet in the second quarter, and about half of new subscribers took AT&T U-verse Voice.
About three-fourths of AT&T U-verse TV subscribers have a triple- or quad-play option from AT&T. ARPU for U-verse triple-play customers was about $170, up slightly year-over-year. U-verse TV penetration of eligible living units continues to grow and was at 17.3 percent in the second quarter.
The combined number of U-verse broadband and TV subscribers was 6.8 million at the end of the quarter.