AT&T sets record

AT&T, the world's largest telecommunications company, reported record net income of $1.34bn (£842m)in the fourth quarter of 1994, compared with $776m in the same period last year, writes Mary Fagan.

Net income for the year rose to a record $4.71bn, an increase of 27.2 per cent on 1993 before accounting changes that year.

Robert Allen, chairman, said that the the strong financial performance reflected "constant sharpening of the company's focus on customers". He said that revenues grew strongly in the product businesses as well as in long-distance telephony and financial services.

The company, due later this year to launch its telephone service in the UK, said that it had stemmed the tide of erosion in the US long-distance market. Total 1994 revenues rose 8.3 per cent to $75.09bn from $69.35bn a year earlier. In telecommunicationsservices they rose 4.3 per cent to $43.43bn.