AT&T's third-quarter results for 2024 reveal steady growth across its core Mobility and fiber broadband services, reinforcing the telecom giant’s commitment to high-quality, converged customer experiences in both 5G and fiber connectivity.
The company reported revenues of USD 30.2 billion, with an operating income of USD 2.1 billion and capital expenditures reaching USD 5.3 billion.
Q3 Highlights
A highlight of the quarter includes 403,000 net postpaid phone additions, while AT&T maintains an expected industry-leading postpaid phone churn rate of 0.78% for the 13th time in 15 quarters.
Mobility service revenues surged 4% year-over-year to reach $16.5 billion, and AT&T Fiber saw another 226,000 net customer additions, marking its 19th consecutive quarter with over 200,000 new fiber customers.
Overall, consumer broadband revenues rose 6.4%, reaching $2.8 billion, and AT&T’s fiber infrastructure now passes 28.3 million consumer and business locations.
“We delivered another strong and consistent quarter, furthering our leadership in converged 5G and fiber connectivity,” commented John Stankey, AT&T CEO. “We are investing at the top of the industry, reducing debt and growing free cash flow year to date. These solid results give us confidence in reiterating our full-year consolidated financial guidance.”
Billion-Dollar Win for AT&T FirstNet
Beyond quarterly results, AT&T and FirstNet celebrated a significant win as the FCC voted unanimously to allocate 50 MHz in the 4.9 GHz band to FirstNet’s nationwide public safety network, which operates on AT&T’s infrastructure. This decision grants FirstNet access to valuable spectrum, estimated to be worth up to USD 14 billion, for expanding emergency communication capabilities.
The FCC order comes despite resistance from the Coalition for Emergency Response and Critical Infrastructure (CERCI), which is backed by competing carriers like T-Mobile and Verizon.
CERCI has voiced strong opposition to the Public Safety Spectrum Alliance's proposal to assign the spectrum to FirstNet, arguing that it could unfairly disadvantage other service providers.
This FCC endorsement is a boost for FirstNet and a strategic advantage for AT&T in public safety communications, though legal challenges from CERCI may still impact the final rollout.
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