AT&T (T) on Wednesday revealed its official numbers for the third quarter of the year. According to the press release, the carrier reported profits of $0.63 a share, or $0.62 when adjusted for the sale of the Advertising Solutions unit, up more than 5% y/y, and way ahead of the Street’s $0.60 estimates.
For the quarter, AT&T reported consolidated revenues of $31.5 billion.
The telecom giant also said it activated 4.7 million iPhones in the quarter, an increase of one million over the previous quarter. Overall, the company sold 6.1 million smartphones with the iPhone, which represented roughly 77% of AT&T’s total smartphone sales, dominating the carrier’s smartphone landscape.
AT&T did not specifically break down iPhone 5 sales numbers, but did note that it activated twice as many iPhone 5s as its nearest competitor, and that its overall postpaid sales numbers were affected by Apple (AAPL)’s iPhone 5 inventory constraints which resulted in the vast majority of Q3-iPhone sales going to existing customers, where there was considerable pent-up demand.
AT&T’s figures are up on its rival Verizon (VZ) which last week recorded 3.1 million iPhone activations in its third quarter.
Sprint Nextel Corp. (S), the third largest wireless provider in the United States, will be the third and final major U.S. iPhone carrier to report earnings before the stock market opens tomorrow, with Apple releasing its official numbers after the close of trading tomorrow.
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