AT&T, the US mobile operator, posted a 61 per cent increase in second-quarter profits and revealed that the lure of Apple's iPhone won it nearly 60,000 new subscribers within 48 hours of the device going on sale.

The figures are likely to be weighed carefully by mobile groups in the UK, where the iPhone operator is yet to be announced. O2 is thought to be the front runner.

AT&T said that it activated 146,000 iPhones, which in the US it supports on an exclusive basis, during the last two days of the quarter, after the smartphone device was launched on June 29.

About 40 per cent of those were customers new to AT&T, the group said. Sales continue to be strong in July, the company added.

Rick Lindner, the chief financial officer, said: ”Expectations were certainly high, but I’m pleased to say that iPhone has truly met them."

However, the number of connections was less than a third of the 500,000 iPhones some analysts estimated were sold on the device's opening weekend. AT&T was forced to admit to technical problems that left some users unable to activate their iPhones shortly after the gadget’s much-hyped debut.

The largest provider of broadband internet and land and wireless phone services in the US, said that net income rose to $2.9 billion, from $1.81 billion for the same period a year earlier.

Wireless subscribers rose by 1.5 million to 63.7 million. The pace was down 2.8 per cent from a year earlier, but up from the first quarter's growth of 1.2 million.

Revenue hit $29.5 billion, up from $15.8 billion a year earlier. Wireless internet services performed well, up 67 per cent for the quarter to $1.7 billion.

The company also reported solid growth in the subscriber base for its U-verse internet television service.

At the end of June, U-verse had 51,000 subscribers in the 23 US cities in which it is available, up from the 13,000 users at the end of the first quarter.

AT&T launched U-verse in a bid to combat competition from cable companies that are bundling high-speed internet and landline phone service to win customers.

AT&T shares slipped 47 cents to $39.56 in early deals in New York.

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