Distancing itself from its wireless carrier rivals, Cingular Wireless said yesterday its net income almost quadrupled year over year in the fourth quarter, increasing to $782 million from $204 million in the same period in 2005. The company, now a division of AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), said it added 2.4 million subscribers in the last three months of 2006, a company record.

This is the last time Cingular will report earnings separate from its parent company, after AT&T completed its acquisition of BellSouth last week. AT&T shares jumped by almost 4 percent on the Cingular report.

"Our last quarter as a joint venture operating under the Cingular name was our best ever on a variety of fronts," said Stan Sigman, the company's president and CEO, in a statement.

Get the details at Unstrung.

— Richard Martin, Senior Editor, Unstrung