AT&T swung to a net loss in Q4 2020, booking more than $16 billion in impairment charges on its video and entertainment businesses which offset significant gains in its mobile unit.

The operator recorded a $15.5 billion charge related to a reassessment of its video business, which includes its DirecTV, U-verse and AT&T TV products. An additional $780 million charge in its WarnerMedia unit was attributed to content production delays and cinema closures.

During the quarter, AT&T was reported to be exploring options for its video unit.

All told, AT&T posted a net loss of $13.9 billion compared with a profit of $2.4 billion in Q4 2019, on revenue of $45.7 billion, down 2.4 per cent.

It estimated the impact of Covid-19 (coronavirus) on revenue at $2.5 billion.

Mobile proved a bright spot, with revenue up 7.6 per cent to $20.1 billion: equipment revenue grew 28.3 per cent to $6.1 billion and service revenue was flat at $14 billion.

On an earnings call, outgoing CFO John Stephens highlighted mobile subscriber growth as “the best it’s been in years”.

Net additions of 5.8 million connections were up from 3.6 million in the 2019 period. Of the latest number, 800,000 were post-paid subscribers, compared with 229,000.