I’ve written about the wireless and iPhone aspects of the Q4 earnings at LMS. The highlight in my mind is 1.9 million iPhone activations, 40% of which were new subs.
Here’s what the company said about publishing and Internet (not ISP business):
AT&T’s Advertising & Publishing operations deliver 173 million directories to residences and businesses in 22 states and have a premier online presence nationwide with YELLOWPAGES.COM, which offers consumers access to local business information, the latest business listings, city guides, maps and driving directions. Combined, these print and online products receive approximately 5 billion consumer searches a year for local business information and over the year, we provided more than 1 million advertisers with valuable sales leads to help their businesses grow.
Advertising & Publishing revenue trends reflect migration from print to electronic search, including rapid growth at AT&T’s YELLOWPAGES.COM. In the fourth quarter, Advertising & Publishing’s Internet revenues increased 31.6 percent versus the year-earlier quarter, and total Advertising & Publishing revenues declined 9.8 percent, in part reflecting revenues lost through the sale of a sales agency business that serves independent telephone companies. That transaction closed in the second quarter of 2008. Excluding revenues from this sold unit, fourth quarter Advertising & Publishing revenues would have declined 6.3 percent year over year.
Compared with results in the year-earlier quarter, fourth-quarter reported operating expenses totaled $885 million versus $966 million; operating income totaled $443 million, compared with $507 million; and the segment’s operating income margin was 33.4 percent versus 34.4 percent.
Adjusted results for Advertising & Publishing exclude merger-related noncash amortization costs in both quarters. Compared with results in the year-earlier quarter, fourth-quarter 2008 adjusted operating expenses totaled $709 million versus $790 million; adjusted operating income totaled $619 million, compared with $683 million; and adjusted operating income margin was 46.6 percent versus 46.4 percent.
In November, AT&T announced a realignment of its advertising sales and product responsibilities under two new business units to better help businesses take advantage of the full suite of advertising opportunities in print, Internet, TV and wireless. Under the new alignment, AT&T’s Advertising & Publishing business unit has been renamed AT&T Advertising Solutions and is responsible for all AT&T advertising sales. In addition, AT&T’s YELLOWPAGES.COM business unit has been renamed AT&T Interactive to reflect its expanded role, which includes the development, management and delivery of online and mobile advertising products across all of AT&T’s media platforms, including AT&T’s broadband, wireless and U-verse customer bases.
(my emphasis)
Screenwerk 
January 29, 2009 at 3:49 pm
While the language worked to sound upbeat, the underlying message is the same as newspapers that are aggressively pursuing web strategies. Increases in revenues from the web products do not compensate for losses of revenues from the print side.
The difference–print YP’s don’t employ terrific reporters and writers who get laid off as print revenues drop at an ever increasingly ugly rate while resultant increases in internet revenues don’t get close to matching the problems in print.
Meanwhile it appears AT &T ‘s far larger businesses and overall profitability at least give them a significantly larger set of pockets than their many competitors in the IYP and print YP worlds.