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April 24th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda NEW YORK (AP) — When Verizon Wireless started selling the iPhone, ATT sounded a defiant note, saying that its customers would remain loyal. A year later, it’s clear that the Verizon iPhone has crimped ATT’s stride.
Verizon had little problem attracting new customers before it started selling the iPhone. In fact, it was the only wireless carrier that managed to keep up with ATT’s iPhone-fueled growth.
But with the iPhone in its arsenal, the country’s biggest wireless company is getting bigger, while No. 2 ATT Inc.‘s growth has slowed precipitously.
On Tuesday, ATT revealed that it essentially gained no phone subscribers on contract-based plans in the first quarter. That’s only happened once before: A year ago, when Verizon launched its version of the iPhone.
Contract-based plans are by far the most lucrative for a phone company, and the number of new customers is an important measure of growth.
ATT gained a net 187,000 customers on contract-based plans in the January to March period, but these were almost all tablet users, brought in by the launch of the new iPad in March. Even on contract-based plans, tablet customers pay between $15 and $50 per month, whereas smartphone customers often pay more than $100.
By contrast, Verizon last week reported adding 501,000 subscribers on contract-based plans.
Over the last five quarters, Verizon has added nearly three times as many contract subscribers as ATT. Over the previous two years, the rivals split new subscribers nearly evenly.
ATT gained a net 726,000 subscribers of all kinds in the first quarter, counting ones on no-contract plans and ones on non-phone devices like the Kindle. That was the lowest figure in eight years, and less than a third of the number of subscribers added in the same period last year.
Weak subscriber figures are usually good for a phone company’s earnings in the short term, since it doesn’t have to subsidize new devices.
The Dallas-based company’s net income for the January to March period was $3.6 billion, or 60 cents per share, up 5 percent from $3.4 billion, or 57 cents per share, a year earlier.
Analysts polled by FactSet were on average expecting earnings of 57 cents per share for the latest quarter.
In particular, ATT saved money by selling fewer iPhones than analysts expected. ATT subsidizes each new iPhone by hundreds of dollars, hoping to make the money back over time in the form of service fees.
ATT said it activated 4.3 million iPhones in the first quarter. That was down from 7.6 million in the fourth quarter, when ATT began selling the iPhone 4S. However, the number was still up from the 3.6 million iPhones ATT sold in the same quarter a year ago.
Revenue was $31.8 billion, up 2 percent from a year earlier. It matched analyst expectations.
ATT shares rose $1.11 cents, or 3.6 percent, to $31.72 in morning trading. The shares are close to a four-year high of $31.97 hit a month ago.
Apple Inc. shares fell on ATT’s report, as investors interpreted its iPhone sales as presaging bad news in Apple’s earnings report, due after the market close Tuesday.
Apple shares were down $8.10, or 1.4 percent, to $563.81.
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