SBC Communications added 528,000 DSL lines in Q3, its best-ever quarterly increase and 31% better than its net gain of 402,000 in the third quarter a year ago. The company now has 6.5 million DSL lines in service. SBC’s now has a 23.7% DSL penetration of primary consumer access lines across its territory, roughly double the rate from two years ago. DSL penetration in SBC’s western territory is now 29%. SBC said it continues to view DSL as the key product in it consumer bundles going forward.
Project Lightspeed update: SBC has completed a field trial in San Antonio of high-speed Internet access and IPTV. The trial demonstrated consistent downlink speeds of 20 to 25 Mbps. SBC said it has now secured an initial channel and VOD content line-up for a controlled service launch. Microsoft has delivered IPTV release 1.0 code; other key vendors continue to report progress.
Financially, SBC’s Q3 2005 revenues totaled $10.3 billion, up 0.3 percent versus the year-earlier quarter. SBC’s third-quarter earnings totaled $1.2 billion, or $0.38 per diluted share, on a reported basis and $1.5 billion, or $0.47 per diluted share, before merger- and hurricane-related costs at Cingular Wireless.
Some highlights from the quarter:
- Wireline revenues totaled $9.4 billion, up 0.4 percent from the third quarter of 2004.
- The third quarter of 2005 was SBC’s sixth consecutive quarter of growth in business, consumer and total wireline revenues.
- Wireline consumer revenues grew 3.4 percent, and business revenues increased 2.3 percent, partially offset by expected declines in wholesale revenues due to a reduction in UNE-P access lines.
- SBC generated $3.3 billion in cash from operations in the third quarter and received an additional $1.4 billion in cash from Cingular Wireless.
- Business wireline revenues were $3.321 billion, up 2.3% from a year earlier.
- DSL revenues were $710 million, up from 22.8% from last year.
- Hi-cap data revenues (SONET, DS3s, dedicated Internet) were $1.748 billion, up 7% over last year.
- There was a net increase of 59,000 small business access lines, even as customers migrate to VoIP.
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- In June 2005, SBC Communications launched a limited promotion offering DSL (384Kbps – 1.5 Mbps) for $14.95 a month (other charges apply) with a 12-month term for new residential subscribers who order online. The SBC Yahoo! DSL Pro (1.5Mbps – 3.0Mbps) service is available for $24.99 a month for 12 months if they order online (other monthly charges apply).