The fall in profits from $229 million to $19 million was expected – indeed, AT&T Wireless surpassed Wall Street expectations by a penny a share. Revenues were up from $3.38 billion to $3.91 billion. However, the company’s 417,000 new customers fell short of the expected 550,000 figure.
AT&T Wireless blamed a general industry slowdown for the subscriber shortfall, combined with fiercer competition and specific problems with its joint venture with bankrupt WorldCom. The company expects total net new subscribers this year to be between 2 and 2.2 million, compared with a previous estimate of 2.5 million.
