Strong iPhone sales boost AT&T earnings

San Francisco (IDGNS) - Profit and sales jumped in the second quarter at AT&T as the U.S. communications giant signed up more wireless customers, including new iPhone users, and sold more Internet services to enterprises.

Net income in the second quarter, which ended June 30, rose to $2.9 billion from $1.8 billion in the same period a year earlier, AT&T said Tuesday.

Earnings per share were $0.47 in the second quarter compared to $0.46 in the year-earlier quarter. Revenue climbed to $29.5 billion from $15.8 billion a year earlier.

The operator's financial results were boosted by a net gain of 1.5 million wireless customers, bringing the total to 63.7 million, and a 14.9 percent hike in wireless service revenue, with sales from wireless data service up 66.9 percent.

Included in the wireless figures are two days of sales of , launched June 29. In that time, AT&T activated 146,000 iPhone subscribers, with more than 40 percent of them new customers.

The company said sales continued to be strong in July.

Another contributor to AT&T's positive second quarter was growing enterprise demand for IP (Internet Protocol) services. Total enterprise revenue was $4.8 billion, up 2.0 percent over the previous quarter, though down 2.1 from the same period a year earlier.

yahoo.com/