Despite AT&T rolling some corporate heads recently, they have made a knock out quarter for themselves, and earnings are up, way up. Looks like all that talk of a stumbling economy, did not affect AT&T as hard as they were thinking. They owe at least some of this success to huge growth in the wireless data sector. Overall, AT&T saw a significant leap in it’s net income, which is up 21% from last year. Revenue from last year saw an improvement as well, it is up 6%. AT&T has broken the 70 million subscriber mark, by adding 5 million subscribers Q1, further securing it’s place as the largest carrier by subscribers.

The growth in data earnings is astounding. Wireless data for AT&T was up an amazing 57%. Data is very important to AT&T now, it accounts for a full fifth of AT&T’s wireless revenues. The ARPU, or average revenue per user, was up to $50.18. That is a 2% increase over last year, which a strong growth. Multiply that figure by 71 million subscribers, and you have some serious coin to throw around.

It gets interesting when you look at the iPhone subscribers. 40% of iPhone users on AT&T are new subscribers, that is an amazing figure. Never before have so many people migrated to a carrier specifically for a phone. Also, the figure is increasing, meaning no one is holding out on buying an iPhone to wait for the 3G version.

All in all, when you look at this report, it a major positive. The most important things like churn and ARPU are improving steadily. AT&T is on a roll, and with their plans to expand 3G this year, they are not going to stop soon. Other areas of AT&T are doing good as well, with broadband revenues up more than 13% over last year.