AT&T Inc Chief Financial Officer Rick Lindner will retire June 1, and will be replaced by Controller John Stephens, the company said on Friday.

Lindner, 56, has served as CFO since 2004.

The 51-year-old Stephens, a 19-year veteran of the telecommunications company, has been AT&T's controller since 2001.

Rick and John have worked together closely for more than 15 years, and we expect a seamless transition, AT&T Chief Executive Randall Stephenson said in a statement.

In January AT&T, the No. 2 U.S. wireless carrier behind Verizon Wireless, projected earnings growth for the year that was less than analysts' expectations.

AT&T'S investors have been unnerved since word emerged that Verizon would begin carrying Apple's popular iPhone, ending more than three years of U.S. exclusivity for AT&T.

AT&T, which is heavily dependent on iPhone, forecast 2011 earnings per share growth in the mid-single-digit percentage range. Analysts had expected growth of about 10 percent.

(Reporting by Gabriel Madway; editing by Carol Bishopric)

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