AT&T's Q2 Wireless Adds Hit By COVID-19

AT&T's adjusted earnings for the second quarter were ahead of estimates, but the company had a bevy of moving parts due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The telecom and media giant reported second quarter earnings of 17 cents a share on revenue of $41 billion. Adjusted earnings were 83 cents a share.

AT&T was expected to report second quarter sales of $41.1 billion with non-GAAP earnings of 79 cents a share.

Throughout the earnings report, AT&T had a bevy of caveats. Even postpaid additions had some moving parts. The company lost 151,000 net postpaid phone subscribers, but that tally includes 338,000 accrued disconnects that are still getting service under the Keep America Connected program. Back those disconnects out and AT&T added 190,000 postpaid subscribers in the second quarter.

AT&T did add 135,000 prepaid phone additions.

The company added 225,000 AT&T Fiber net additions and ended the second quarter with 17.7 million premium TV subscribers with a net loss of 886,000 accounts in the quarter (91,000 attributed to the Keep America Connected program).

AT&T's Warner Media group also saw lower content and advertising revenue. 

According to AT&T, the company is focused on a bevy of transformation efforts to cut labor costs, utilized software defined networking and streamline IT. The company ended the quarter with $152 billion in net debt.