AT&T Wireless 2010 Annual Report Download - page 4

2 AT&T Inc.
Our strategic business services — led by Virtual Private Networks (VPN) and including
things such as hosting and applications services — grew 15.8 percent.
Our overall financial results were solid as well: Consolidated revenues improved from
2009 levels; earnings per share grew 63.4 percent, largely due to timely sales of non-
strategic assets and favorable resolution of income tax matters, and 10.6 percent excluding
significant items; and cash from operations totaled $35.0 billion.
We used that cash to invest in our operations and prepare for future growth, to further
reduce debt, and to return $9.9 billion in dividends to stockholders.
In December, your board of directors again increased our quarterly dividend — for the
27th consecutive year — and authorized the repurchase of up to 300 million shares.
These achievements round out the larger story of how your company has executed over the
past three years — as we, like other companies, have worked through a tough economy. As we
begin 2011, AT&T is coming out of the downturn stronger, both operationally and financially,
than we were going in — with improving revenue trends, expanding margins and a more
growth-oriented business. In the fourth quarter, 73 percent of our revenues came from mobility,
wireline data and managed services, and those revenues were growing at a 9.0 percent pace.
A Network of Possibilities The foundation for this growth is a network that’s more powerful
and capable than ever. Our domestic wireless network covers more than 300 million people,
and we provide the broadest international access of any U.S. mobile provider. Our global
networking capabilities provide advanced connections for businesses to 182 countries. And
on an average business day, our global backbone carries nearly 24 petabytes of data traffic —
more than 100 times the digitized Library of Congress.
Our network delivers breathtaking levels of connectivity and mobility. But the real power
of this network is in all that it enables — how it speeds commerce and drives economic
growth, how it helps people and communities reach their potential. Our network and the
solutions that ride on it give a young student in a small-town school access to the same
applications and resources as her counterparts in major metropolitan areas. They give a
small family business down the street the tools to compete with the largest companies.
We help entrepreneurs across all sorts of industries get noticed and get to market faster.
In all these ways and more, our network and services play an important and growing role.
Growth Platforms This network and the vision behind it form the foundation for the
three core growth platforms that are shaping AT&T’s future:
Mobile broadband, where we’ve led the way in growth and network capabilities.
Advanced business solutions that combine mobile broadband, cloud capabilities and
applications to help businesses mobilize everything and transform their operations.
AT&T U-verse, our advanced platform for integrated next-generation TV, voice and
broadband services.