AT&T with lower revenues in Q1 due to lower sales of smartphones

AT&T announced continued adjusted margin expansion and solid adjusted earnings growth for the first quarter. The quarter also was marked by several decisive strategic moves that helped broaden the company’s spectrum portfolio.

AT&T’s consolidated revenues for the first quarter totaled $39.4 billion versus $40.5 billion in the year-ago quarter, primarily due to record-low equipment sales in wireless. Compared with results for the first quarter of 2016, operating expenses were $32.5 billion versus $33.4 billion; operating income was $6.9 billion versus $7.1 billion; and operating income margin was 17.4% versus 17.6%.

First-quarter net income attributable to AT&T totaled $3.5 billion, or $0.56 per diluted share, compared to $3.8 billion, or $0.61 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter.

“In a very competitive quarter, we continued to execute on our goals of driving efficiencies in our business while growing adjusted earnings per share. But just as important, the strategic moves we’ve made over the last few months to expand our wireless capacity and fortify our 5G leadership will be felt for years to come,” said Randall Stephenson, AT&T Chairman and CEO.

“FirstNet gives us access to 20 megahertz of valuable, low-band spectrum and allows us to deploy our spectrum assets more efficiently as we build a high-quality, mobile broadband network for our first responders. And our planned acquisitions of Fiber Tower and Straight Path will add valuable millimeter wave spectrum assets to our 5G tool kit as we lead the way to the next generation of wireless technology.”