AT&T proved that it can withstand a little competition from Verizon's iPhone launch, adding more than 3.6 million iPhone activations in the first quarter of 2011, with 23 percent of them new customers.

The carrier was proud to announce a 10.2 percent growth in wireless revenue, with an 8.6 percent increase in wireless service revenues. The first quarter of 2011 was the best first-quarter increase in total wireless subscribers, up 2 million to reach 97.5 million total subscribers.

?We had a very strong wireless quarter with double-digit revenue growth,? said Rick Lindner, senior executive vice president and chief financial officer of AT&T, Dallas, TX. ?We knew that with another carrier offering the iPhone, there would be some volatility and that our broadband strategy would be tested.

?Smartphone sales continue to be strong, churn remains relatively stable and we continue to expand into connected devices and tablets,? he said. ?Mobile broadband is driving unprecedented growth in our industry, and we are pleased with the results from this quarter.?

A little competition
A few weeks ago, comScore estimated that Verizon Wireless sold 1 million iPhones in February and the industry speculated that AT&T could be harmed (see story).

AT&T has proved it can withstand the competition from Verizon.

The wireless carrier said during its April 20 earnings call that its overall consolidated revenue of $31.2 billion increased by $717 million year-over-year and this increase was driven largely by strong wireless growth.

AT&T had record first-quarter smartphone sales of more than 5.5 million.

The company revealed that 40 percent of its smartphone sales are coming from BlackBerry, Android and Windows Phone 7 devices.

Additionally, the company reported that the first quarter of this year was the strongest it has ever had in terms of gain from connected devices such as Apple?s iPad. AT&T added 1.3 million connected device subscribers in the first quarter.

Wireless data revenues increased 23.9 percent, up almost $1 billion versus the same quarter last year.

Postpaid subscriber ARPU is up 2.4 percent to $63.39, the ninth consecutive quarter with a year-over-year increase.

"We faced a lot of questions with another iPhone competitor in the market,? said Ralph de la Vega, president/CEO of AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. ?We had confidence in our ability to compete.

?I?m very pleased to say that in many ways we had our strongest first quarter ever,? he said.