The Apple iPhone has only been available for a matter of weeks but it has already made an impact on the earnings of US cellco partner AT&T.

The carrier reported net income of $2.9bn for the second quarter, compared with $1.8bn in the same period last year.

The June 29 launch of the iPhone allowed for less than two days of sales and activations before the end of the quarter but in that time, AT&T activated 146,000 iPhone subs.

More than 40 per cent of the additions were new subscribers and sales of the iPhone continue to be strong in July with store traffic above historical levels, AT&T said.

The carrier posted a second quarter net gain in wireless subscribers of 1.5 million to reach 63.7 million.

For the quarter, AT&T reported revenues of $29.5bn, up from $15.8bn in the year ago quarter, prior to AT&T’s acquisition of BellSouth Corporation and the accompanying consolidation of wireless results.