Global telecommunications carrier AT&T saw its first-quarter 2008 revenues rise 6.1 per cent year-on-year to $30.7bn (£15.4bn), with net income reported as $3.5bn, up 21.5 per cent from $2.8bn in the first quarter of 2007.

Much of those earnings came from consumer wired and wireless broadband services in the US, backed by strong sales of the Apple iPhone.

But revenues from the fixed-line enterprise IP data services which, like BT, AT&T sells in US, Europe and elsewhere also increased by a healthy 22.9 per cent, with total enterprise revenues up 2.1 per cent and enterprise service revenues up 1.2 per cent.