AT&T; and 3 Regionals Ring Up Higher Profits During Quarter

Higher quarterly profits were reported Wednesday by American Telephone & Telegraph Co. and three of its Baby Bell offspring, Pacific Telesis Group, Ameritech and BellSouth Corp.

AT&T; said it earned $594 million, up from $492 million a year earlier. Revenue rose to $8.66 billion from $8.39 billion.

The company’s depreciation expenses declined, boosting profits. But for accounting reasons the company reported an $88-million one-time charge against earnings to reflect a change in the method of depreciating assets.

San Francisco-based Pacific Telesis, one of the seven so-called Baby Bells created in 1984 by the breakup of AT&T;, reported first-quarter earnings of $317 million, up 5.7% from $300 million in the first quarter of 1988.

PacTel’s revenue for the period increased 1.5% to $2.34 billion from $2.3 billion for the same quarter last year.

Chicago-based Ameritech said its earnings rose 1.9% year to $300.8 million from $295.1 million; revenue rose to $2.5 billion from $2.4 billion.

Atlanta-based BellSouth said its earnings rose 4.3% to $449.6 million from $430.9 million a year earlier. Revenue rose 5.2% to $3.37 billion from $3.2 billion.

However, BellSouth’s earnings would have fallen to about $404 million if not for one-time factors, the company said.