Wireless carrier AT&T has announced today its earning results for the third quarter of the ongoing year, and has posted $30.9 billion in revenues, as well as net income of $3.2 billion, and diluted earnings per share of $0.54. At the same time, the company has also announced that cash from operating activities totaled $9.7 billion. According to the carrier, the quarter was dominated by strong wireless gains, further expansion of AT&T U-verse services, and double-digit growth in revenues from strategic business products.

However, the revenues were slightly lower than in the same quarter a year ago, when they topped $31.3 billion, yet higher than the previous quarter of the ongoing year. AT&T's operating expenses for Q3 2009 were $25.5 billion, lower than in the third quarter a year ago, when they reached $25.7 billion. The operating income for the quarter was of $5.4 billion compared to $5.6 billion in Q3 2008, while the operating margin was of 17.5 percent, compared to the 17.9 percent in the same time frame a year ago.

“We delivered a terrific wireless quarter, IP data growth was strong and execution across the business continues to be solid,” said Randall Stephenson, AT&T chairman and chief executive officer. “As the economy works to regain its footing, we are keenly focused on cost improvement as well as continued leadership and investment in key areas that will drive future growth. We have moved forward aggressively to further expand in mobile broadband. AT&T U-verse has good traction and is redefining our wired consumer experience. Our advanced business products have proven to be resilient, and we continue to expand our capabilities in areas like network security and global Wi-Fi coverage. These and other initiatives benefit customers, drive innovation across the industry and strengthen our long-term growth prospects.”

Other results for the quarter also include a wireless subscribers increase of 2.0 million, up 48.1 percent compared to the net adds in the second quarter of the year, and slightly up when compared to the previous year's third quarter; 1.43 percent churn rate; 4.3 million postpaid 3G integrated wireless devices have been added to AT&T’s network; 3.2 million iPhone activations, $3.6 billion in wireless data revenues; postpaid subscriber ARPU increased 3.8 percent; and 10.0 percent growth in wireless service revenues, which totaled $12.4 billion.