Verizon touts iPhone-boosted profits, new CEO

By Geoff Duncan July 22, 2011

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Telecommunications operator Verizon—also the U.S.’s top mobile operator—has announced its second quarter financial results, with revenue of $27.5 billion and net income of $1.61 billion, which translates to 57 cents per share for stockholders. The company activated some 2.3 million iPhones during the quarter, and while that number was lower than the company expected—like everyone else, Verizon seemed to think Apple was due to announce a new iPhone—the firm still managed to add 1.26 million wireless contract subscribers during the quarter—that’s compared to adding some 665,000 subscribers in the same quarter a year ago.

Verizon also indicated it has sold 1.2 million LTE-enabled devices, including the HTC Thunderbolt smartphone and notebook computer modems.

On the wireline front, Verizon added 189,000 FiOS Internet subscribers and 180,000 FiOS TV subscribers during the quarter. FiOS customers now represent well over half (57 percent) of Verizon’s total customer revenues, and Verizon is milking them hard: the company managed to wring a 9.4 percent increase in revenue per user of its wireline customers. Those numbers are important, since Verizon Wireless—the company’s mobile operations—are 45 percent owned by Europe’s Vodafone.

“In terms of earnings growth and the acceleration of revenue growth, this has been one of Verizon’s best quarters since the 2008 economic downturn,” said current Verizon Chairman and CEO Ivan Seidenberg, in a statement. “We expanded sequential margins in both our wireline and wireless businesses, and in the second half of the year we expect Verizon to build on this strong, positive momentum to continue to drive profitable, sustainable growth.”

Verizon also unveiled a change in leadership: as of August 1, Chief Operating Officer Lowell McAdam will take over from long-time CEO Ivan Seidenberg. Seidenberg, currently age 64, will stay on as chairman of the company’s board. Seidenberg has been CEO since 1998—although in those days, the company was known as Bell Atlantic.

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