Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: AT&T, Sprint Nextel, Clearwire, Verizon and Apple

Zacks.com Analyst Blog features: AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S), Clearwire Corp. (Nasdaq: CLWR), Verizon Communication (NYSE: VZ) and Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL).

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Here are highlights from Wednesday’s Analyst Blog:

AT&T to Expand Wi-Fi Zones

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), the second largest mobile service provider in the U.S., plans to expand Wi-Fi hotzones for its wireless network, including iPhones, to major markets. The company will expand its Wi-Fi access around Times Square in New York and introduce its first hotspot in San Francisco.

Earlier this year, AT&T deployed Wi-Fi hotzones in New York City's Times Square, downtown Charlotte, North Carolina, and Chicago's Wrigleyville to support mobile broadband in urban areas. These zones provide fast data service to AT&T customers.

Wi-Fi is gaining popularity as more customers are adopting Wi-Fi enabled devices. It is a cost-effective to wireless broadband over AT&T's 3G network. In the third quarter of 2010, AT&T handled 106.9 million Wi-Fi connections on its network, more than the 85.5 million connections that were made during full year 2009.

AT&T is pursuing mobile broadband services, which are currently the industry’s most powerful growth driver. In mid-2011, AT&T plans to roll out LTE, which will offer a peak speed of 100 Mbps and cover between 70 million and 75 million people by the end of the year. Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S) currently extends its 4G network in 68 U.S. markets via Clearwire Corp.'s (Nasdaq: CLWR) network. Verizon Communication’s (NYSE: VZ) has recently launched its 4G services, which will be available in 39 markets.

AT&T is the exclusive provider of Apple Inc.’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPhone since June 2007. The iPhone gave AT&T more subscribers even when the U.S. mobile-phone market was nearing saturation. In the third quarter of 2010, AT&T added 2.6 million subscribers, reaching 92.8 million total subscribers in service, up 29.9% year over year, driven by strong iPhone activation, rapid adoption of smartphones, strong prepaid subscribers and higher growth in connected devices. This represents an all-time high quarterly net addition in the history of AT&T.

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