AT&T Q4 results fall on costs of acquisitions

(Telecompaper) AT&T reported a drop in fourth-quarter results, hurt by the costs of acquisitions such as DirecTV and expanding into Mexico. Revenues fell to USD 41.8 billion from USD 42.1 billion in the year-ago quarter, and operating profit dropped to USD 4.2 billion from USD 7.5 billion. The operating margin fell to 10.2 percent from 17.9, but excluding the one-time costs, AT&T said the margin was 17.5 percent, up 70 basis points year-on-year. Net profit declined to USD 2.4 billion or