Despite having to swallow the costs of the recent SBC, AT&T merger as well as those of Cingular Wireless' 2004 acquisition of AT&T Wireless, the new AT&T's third quarter net income jumped 74 percent year-on-year, to $2.2 billion. Last year the company earned $1.2 billion, but that figure did not include AT&T's results, since SBC acquired it last November. The combined company is now in the process of buying BellSouth, which co-owns Cingular Wireless with AT&T. The FCC recently postponed its vote on the AT&T/BellSouth merger.
Other metrics from the Q3 report: Revenue spiked 52 percent to $15.6 billion, up from $10.3 billion. Sales climbed to $15.6 billion. Cingular's revenue is not included in the company-wide results, however, CEO Ed Whitacre attributed the upbeat report to the company's wireless businesses: "Wireless delivered impressive margin expansion along with strong subscriber and revenue growth. Enterprise demand and revenue trends continue to be promising."
For more on AT&T's Q3:
- see this WSJ article (sub. req.)
- also take a look at our coverage of Cingular's Q3 from last week