AT&T Proves It Was More Than iPhone Distributor

Of course, its core wireless business continues to be its bread and butter; that part of the operation climbed more than 5% on an annual basis, to $16.1 billion. All of this while also growing its wireless data revenue to $6.1 billion, or just shy of 20%. What I thought was pretty remarkable was the fact that AT&T added 726K net subscribers for the quarter -- increasing its total to 104 million -- a performance that contributed to a 70% annual increase as it reached just under 6 million customers. I think this trend dispels any cause for concern over having lost exclusivity to the iPhone.

Moving forward
The more time I have taken to analyze the report, the more impressive it gets, not only from the standpoint of AT&T's performance, but also the increased optimism it generates for the entire sector. AT&T demonstrated that it can overcome lackluster iPhone sales and still produce better-than-expected operating margins -- for that matter, so did Verizon. For as popular and as fruitful as Apple's partnership has been for both firms, they have come to the realization that it has helped Apple more than it has benefited their respective bottom lines. For that matter, they are both committed to reducing their dependency on iPhone as well as the resulting subsidies that have now started to hurt their business.

To that end AT&T has begun to push the Lumia 900 from Nokia(NOK) , which is based on Microsoft's(MSFT) Windows Mobile OS. How successful this will be remains to be seen. But it is interesting that AT&T is set not only on creating separation for its once advantageous Apple partnership, but on marketing a competing product from hated rivals Nokia and Microsoft. (Be that as it may, I don't think Apple has much of anything to be concerned about, particularly from the standpoint of recent results showing tremendous growth in international markets -- in particular China.)

Bottom line
For AT&T, the bottom line is that its bottom line is trending in the right direction. I don't think it gets enough credit for its recent string of performances. From an investment perspective, the stock is certainly very attractive for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the fact it offers a very attractive dividend at well over 5%. For value investors who are looking for a safe investment for the next 10 years -- one capable of also showing tremendous growth -- AT&T is certainly one to consider.