The US telecom giant AT&T announced on Tuesday that wireless sales increased by almost 8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014. However, it also posted a net loss of $4 billion due to a surge in operating expenses.
For the three month period that ended on Dec. 31 earnings per share, excluding some items, was equal to 55 cents. This was in line with Wall Street expectations. According to Zacks Investment Research, analysts expected earnings per share ranging from 51 cents to 61 cents.
In after-hours trading shares of AT&T climbed 45 cents to $33.26.
In fiscal 2014 the company posted net income of $6.9 billion.
Increasing demand for cell phones on installment plans helped fuel AT&T’s wireless equipment sales, which contributed a 3.8% surge in the company-wide quarterly revenue, which totaled $34.4 billion.
AT&T is the second largest wireless service provider in the United States. The company posted a 7.7% increase in revenue to $19.9 billion. This increase was mainly fueled by an increase in wireless equipment revenues, which gained 72.3% to $4.8 billion.
There have been some major changes in how AT&T sells wireless service plans. It has focused more on no-contract options that allows customers to pay for phones in monthly installments after only paying up front for sales tax.
AT&T brought in 1.9 million new wireless customers during the quarter, almost twice as many as it gained in the same quarter the year before.