Here is a summary of earnings reports for selected telecommunications companies and what they reveal about the industry’s prospects:
Oct. 20: AT&T Inc. says its wireless service revenue grew just 4.3 percent in the latest period compared with a year ago. That growth rate had often topped 10 percent in the recent years, but has now been declining for a year. Contributing to the slowdown in growth was the delayed launch of the latest iPhone model, which just missed the end of the quarter.
Oct. 21: Earnings doubled at Verizon Communications Inc. in the latest quarter because of pension accounting effects, but the bottom-line result masked a weak quarter in the local-phone division, which was hammered by a strike and a hurricane. In wireless, Verizon added more high-paying subscribers than rival AT&T Inc. But it, too, was hurt by a late iPhone 4S.
Coming up:
Wednesday: Sprint Nextel Corp.
Oct. 31: Leap Wireless International Inc.
Nov. 1: MetroPCS Communications Inc.
Nov. 10: Deutsche Telekom AG, parent company of T-Mobile
