AT&T's quarterly revenue misses analysts' estimates

AT&T Inc , the No. 2 U.S. wireless carrier, reported quarterly revenue below analysts' estimates as it struggles to cope with intense competition in the wireless market.

AT&T said last week that it added more than 200,000 paying subscribers to its video streaming service DirecTV Now and about 900,000 branded U.S. wireless subscribers in the latest quarter.

AT&T bought DirecTV in 2015 as part of its plans to diversify from its wireless phone business, which has been struggling amid competition from smaller rivals T-Mobile U.S. Inc and Sprint Corp .

The company said in October it would buy Time Warner Inc , a deal that was objected by U.S. President Donald Trump during his election campaign.

AT&T is banking on the deals to boost its media offerings such as over-the-top services and to gain control of cable channels such as HBO and CNN as well as film studio Warner Bros.

Net income attributable to the company fell to $2.44 billion, or 39 cents per share, in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, from $4.01 billion, or 65 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding a pretax loss of about $1 billion and other items, the company earned 66 cents per share in the latest reported quarter, in line with the average analyst estimate.

Total revenue fell marginally to $41.84 billion, missing the average estimate of $42.04 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

AT&T's shares were marginally up at $41.66 after the bell on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Aishwarya Venugopal in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)