AT&T's (NYSE:T) Wireless Growth Disappoints, Shares Fall

In their latest quarterly report, AT&T (NYSE:T) plunged in earnings, based upon restructuring and pension obligations. Taking that into account, they performed in line with analysts' expectations.

That's not what concerned investors though, it is their future wireless growth that everyone has on their mind for AT&T.

In a couple of weeks AT&T will be losing exclusive access to the wildly popular Apple iPhone (Nasdaq:AAPL) to Verizon (NYSE:VZ), which is an unknown as to how that will impact the company, taking into consideration the many concerns over the quality of its service, now with an competitive alternative being offered.

A big drop in post-paid wireless subscribers in the fourth quarter was a big negative as well.

Activation of the iPhone for AT&T in the fourth quarter reached 4.1 million, up from 3.1 million in the same quarter last year, but dropping from 5.2 million in the September quarter.

The good news for AT&T is they already began strategies of diversification in anticipation of falling iPhone sales, with close to 3.3 million smartphones from competitors being activated in the fourth quarter. That was up from around 2.8 million in the last quarter.

Tablets activated in the quarter came in at 442,000, including Google's (Nasdaq:GOOG) Android and Apple.

AT&T earned $1.1 billion in the quarter, or 18 cents a share, down from $2.7 billion, or 46 cents a share earned in the same quarter last year. Revenue increase to $31.4 billion, a 2 percent gain.

AT&T was trading at $27.85, down $0.88, or 3.06 percent, as of 12:18 PM EST.