SBC Communications Inc., the No. 2 local phone company, reported a $5 billion profit in the first quarter and posted record growth in DSL and long-distance subscribers.
The huge profit compares to a $193 million loss the previous year.
The San Antonio-based phone giant is still facing tough pressure from rivals in its local phone consumer business: SBC lost 770,000 retail access lines in the first quarter to companies that resell local phone service through the unbundled network element – platform. Seventy percent of those lines go to consumers. In the previous quarter, SBC lost 810,000 retail access lines due to the UNE-P.
Excluding Cingular Wireless, the joint venture between SBC and BellSouth Corp., SBC reported $10.3 billion in quarterly revenue, compared with $10.5 billion in the first quarter a year ago. Research firm Thomson First Call was still waiting Thursday afternoon to see whether the revenue met analysts’ expectations.
SBC cut its capital expenditures in half to $897 million from the period a year ago, and ended the first quarter with $15.4 billion in debt.
During the quarter, the San Antonio-based company added 1.5 million long-distance lines, up 42 percent from the first quarter of 2002. SBC has authority to provide long-distance services in eight of the 13 states within its local phone territory, and expects approval in the remaining states within its Ameritech region this year.
SBC also added 270,000 DSL customers, bringing the total to 2.5 million.
“Our execution in the first quarter was solid, as we gained additional momentum in key growth drivers,” said Edward E. Whitacre Jr., SBC’s chairman and CEO. “We had our best-ever quarter for DSL and long-distance subscriber growth and we expect continued strong results from innovative product bundles and an aggressive marketing campaign.”
