No wonder AT&T (NYSE: T) wants to keep the iPhone all to itself. The US’s largest telecoms company, and second biggest carrier, reported first quarter profit that beat expectations, bolstered in part by higher spending on wireless data by its customers, and new net adds lured by the iPhone, which AT&T carries exclusively. The carrier said it activated 1.6 million iPhones in the first quarter, of which more than 40 percent, or 640,000, were new to the network. That means of the 1.2 million net adds to the carrier, a majority of them, or 53 percent came for the iPhone. iPhone subscribers also spend more, delivering ARPU rates 1.6 times higher, and lower churn rates.

AT&T posted a 9.7 percent decline in net profit of $3.1 billion, or 53 cents a share, compared with $3.5 billion or 57 cents a share in the period a year earlier. Overall revenues also declined slightly dropping to $30.6 billion, down from $30.7 billion sequentially. Wireless revenue, which now accounts for 42 percent of total revenue, however, climbed 9.8 percent to $11.6 billion, while wireless data revenue grew 38.6 percent to $3.2 billion, driven by messaging, Internet access, e-mail, and access to applications and other services. More numbers after the jump.

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