AT&T bleeds $6.7 billion after failing to pick up T-Mobile

How much is the cost of failure? AT&T is looking at a $6.7 billion loss during the fourth quarter because of the breakup fees incurred because it failed to pick up T-Mobile USA as intended. A similar period in the previous year saw the company report a profit of $1.09 billion. Still, despite the rather huge dent in their coffers, the company managed to achieve record iPhone sales as well as benefit from an influx of new subscribers. The iPhone 4S is truly a phenomenon, and despite AT&T being no longer the sole provider of the Apple smartphone, consumers still turned up in droves to purchase this latest edition, while the older model from AT&T is available for free – as long as one agrees to a 2-year contract, of course. The total number of iPhones sold in the previous quarter? We are looking ata whopping 7.6 million – breaking all previous sales records. This certainly goes to show how potent having the iPhone in your portfolio can be, as the total number of smartphones sold amounted to 9.4 million.