AT&T on Thursday said the company’s capital expenditure (Capex) touched $3.9 billion during Q3 2020.
AT&T said gross capital investment – which consists of capital expenditures plus cash payments of more than $600 million for technology vendor payments – totalled $4.5 billion during the third quarter.
The third largest telecom operator continues to expect gross capital investment in the $20 billion range in 2020.
AT&T says it has the fastest nationwide 5G network based on data from Ookla.
Total revenue of AT&T was $42.3 billion during the third quarter ended Sept. 30 as against $44.6 billion in the year-ago quarter.
The company added 645,000 net new phone subscribers during the quarter who pay a recurring monthly bill, Reuters reported.
AT&T said the pandemic eroded earnings per share by 21 cents. The COVID-19 pandemic impacted revenues across all businesses, particularly WarnerMedia and also domestic wireless service revenues, primarily from lower international roaming.
AT&T, which has spent the past few years investing to become a media business, said it had 38 million subscribers in the United States for both its premium TV channel HBO and HBO Max during the third quarter, reaching its 2021 goal a year early. It currently has 57 million subscribers worldwide.
The services had 36.3 million subscribers in the United States in the previous quarter.
WarnerMedia, the segment that contains HBO and the company’s movie and TV studio, generated revenue of $7.5 billion, down from $8.4 billion in the year-ago quarter, as movie theaters largely remained shut in the U.S.
Even as the WarnerMedia segment attracts new subscribers, it must also contend with existing HBO subscribers through their pay TV providers who are dumping their service.
AT&T is playing catchup to larger streaming video rivals. Netflix serves about 68 million U.S. customers and nearly 200 million worldwide. Walt Disney Co’s Disney+ has more than 60 million subscribers, reaching its goal four years early.
