“AT&T reported a 23% drop in earnings in the final quarter of the year, but managed to eke out a 2.4% increase in revenue, up to $31.1 billion. Helping the telecom giant get there was the signing up of a net 2.1 million wireless subscribers, which included the activation of a whopping 1.9 million iPhone 3G handsets. While these customers spend an attractive 60% more each month on average, they don’t come cheap — AT&T took a loss of $450 million to subsidize the iPhone’s cheap offering price,” Mock writes.
Full article here.