eWEEK content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.
Verizon chalked up third-quarter revenue of $33.2 billion in revenue, a 5 percent gain from $31.6 billion in the second quarter, with a net income of $4.17 billion, up 9.9 percent from $3.79 billion posted in the prior quarter.
Both figures beat analyst’s estimates for the quarter, which called for revenue of some $32.94 billion, according to figures from Yahoo Finance.
“Verizon’s results were good, if not great, though it’s always advisable to beat those pesky analysts’ estimates,” Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT told eWEEK in an email.
“The company did well in adding wireless subscriptions (1.3 million all told, including nearly 900,000 higher performance 4G handsets), but the biggest news was the 114,000 FIOS (fiber-based Internet services) clients the company added,” he wrote. “Coming at a time when traditional cable companies continue to see subscriber numbers dwindle, Verizon seems to have found a winning approach.”
Verizon’s third-quarter earnings per share came in at 99 cents per share, up from 89 cents per share in the prior quarter.
Verizon also added 1.29 million net retail postpaid mobile customers in the third quarter, while 80,000 prepaid subscribers were lost, according to the company. That gives Verizon 110.7 million retail customers in total, including 105 million postpaid customers. The 110.7 million retail customers is a 4.3 percent gain over the prior quarter, when Verizon had 106.2 million total retail customers.
The company’s third-quarter customer churn was 0.93 percent, down from a 1 percent churn rate in the prior quarter.
“Verizon continues to grow earnings by delivering network reliability and superior value that continues to attract new customers,” Lowell McAdam, chairman and CEO, said in a statement. “Verizon Wireless posted another quarter of quality connections growth—even better than in the second quarter—while maintaining high customer loyalty and profitability. Meanwhile, FIOS customer growth also improved from the previous quarter. We expect future revenue growth from mobile over-the-top video, including digital advertising, and the Internet of Things.”
The positive financial report follows Verizon’s midyear acquisition of AOL as the company continues to build services across multiple platforms. In May, Verizon announced that it was bolstering its content and online advertising capabilities by acquiring AOL for $4.4 billion. The acquisition, which had been rumored for months, brought together the largest U.S. mobile carrier and the AOL video and print content network, including the AOL Huffington Post Media Group.
Third-quarter revenues from Verizon’ wireless division totaled $23 billion, up 5.4 percent from the same quarter in 2014. Service revenues totaled $17.6 billion, down 4.1 percent from the same quarter one year ago.
The company added 889,000 4G smartphones to its postpaid customer base in the third quarter, as well as 818,000 tablet net adds in the quarter.
Rob Enderle, principal analyst for Enderle Group, said the Verizon revenue figures appear to be strong for the quarter. “I was expecting more T-Mobile erosion, but I didn’t see it,” Enderle told eWEEK in an email. “I think it is still too early to see an AOL impact though they certainly are playing it up. FIOS remains strong as well. It really looks like there is nothing obviously broken as they are both holding and growing their markets reasonably well.”