AT&T adds 246,000 fiber subscribers in 2021 Q2

AT&T executives hailed growing momentum in its fiber business after posting strong net additions in Q2 and predicted the pace of subscriber growth will pick up in the back half of the year as large swaths of new coverage come online. The operator added 246,000 consumer fiber customers in the quarter, more than offsetting non-fiber broadband and DSL losses to achieve 28,000 total consumer broadband net additions. The latter figure compared to a net loss of 102,000 in the year-ago period. CFO Pascal Desroches said 80 percent of net additions were customers that were new to AT&T. Jeff McElfresh, CEO of AT&T’s Communications division, said it expects to reach 3 million new locations with fiber in 2021 and tipped this new build to spur accelerated net additions in Q3 and Q4. Consolidated revenue of $44 billion was up 7.6% year on year, with net income of $1.87 billion up from $1.56 billion.