AT&T declares Q4 financials

AT&T delivered a mixed bag in Q4 2023, even though many of the metrics the carrier reported were good.

AT&T’s fourth-quarter revenue of $32 billion was up 2.2% from the same quarter last year. Revenues for the full year totaled $122.4 billion, up 1.4% from 2022, driven by higher revenues from Mobility, and to a lesser extent, Mexico and Consumer Wireline revenues. Although, those were partially offset by the lower Business Wireline revenues.

In total, broadband revenues grew more than 8% year over year.

The company came in above its guidance with $16.8 billion in free cash flow, an improvement of $2.6 billion year over year, or up 19%.

Last year AT&T lowered net debt by about $3.3 billion, which was also burdened by $1.7 billion increase year over year for changes in foreign exchange rates related to debt overseas.

In July, the carrier achieved a $6 billion cost savings target ahead of schedule, and set a new target for $2 billion of cost savings by mid-2026. Stankey said it is “making strong early progress on this target,” in part by reducing vendor financing obligations by $3.3 billion in 2023.

In 2024, AT&T expects to dedicate more cash to debt reduction, but it will also see higher spend on capital projects.

AT&T grew its fiber base by 1.1 million net adds in 2023, marking the fifth consecutive year where the carrier has generated more than 1 million subscribers. Over the past three years, AT&T fiber subscribers have increased by 3.4 million (or by nearly 70%) to more than 8.3 million. Compared to 2020, the company more than doubled its fiber revenues to over $6.2 billion in 2023.

In less positive news, AT&T’s Business Wireline segment was down 10.3% year over year, which Stankey attributed in part to about $100 million in intellectual property transaction revenues the company saw in the fourth quarter of 2022 that did not repeat in 2023. Adding to that, wholesale revenues were “weaker than expected.” Those are important revenues in the segment because they tend to be higher margin, more resilient, subscription-based services.

CT Bureau