BEIJING, July 26 (Xinhuanet) -- AT&T Inc. posted a 61 percent increase in second-quarter earnings on Tuesday, lifted primarily by its buyout of BellSouth Corp. The increase was also helped by faster growth in its Internet protocol services and a gain in wireless subscribers.

AT&T, the United State's largest provider of broadband Internet and land and wireless phone services, said net income rose to 2.9 billion U.S. dollars, or 47 cents per share, from 1.81 billion dollars, or 46 cents per share in the prior year's quarter. Wireless subscribers rose by 1.5 million to 63.7 million, AT&T said.

Excluding costs for major acquisitions, the company had earnings of 70 cents a share, up from 58 cents a share, and above the 67 cents a share average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Financial.

AT&T, which has rebranded the wireless segment from Cingular since it completed the BellSouth buyout, is the sole carrier for Apple Inc.'s iPhone and agreed at the end of the second quarter to acquire rural wireless provider Dobson Communications Corp. for 2.8 billion dollars in cash.

(Agencies)