The company adds 549,000 retail mobile customers and 98,000 Fios broadband customers during the first quarter
Driven by growth in mobile and Fios broadband customers, Verizon Communications on Thursday reported first quarter 2014 revenue of $30.8 billion, up from $29.4 billion a year earlier.
Verizon reported net income of nearly $6 billion for the quarter, up from $4.9 billion a year earlier. Net income attributable to Verizon, not including income for its former mobile partner Vodafone, was $3.9 billion compared to $1.9 billion in the same period last year. Verizon purchased Vodafone’s 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless in a deal that closed during this past quarter.
Earnings per share were $1.15, up from $0.68 a year ago. Adjusted earnings per share were $0.84, while analysts expected $0.87. Earnings per share would have been $0.91 had Verizon owned Vodafone’s share of Verizon Wireless during the entire quarter.
Verizon Wireless added 549,000 retail customers during the quarter, bringing its retail customer numbers up to 103.3 million, a 4.4 percent increase from the first quarter of 2013.
Mobile revenue was $20.9 billion for the first quarter, up 6.9 percent from a year ago.
The company added 98,000 new Fios broadband customers and 57,000 new Fios television customers during the quarter, bringing the totals to 6.2 million Fios broadband and 5.3 million Fios TV customers. The number of Verizon’s Fios broadband customers has increased 9.9 percent from a year ago, and Fios TV has increased 8.7 percent, the company said.
Including losses of DSL customers, Verizon’s broadband customer numbers increased by 16,000 in the first quarter of 2014. The company now has 9 million broadband customers, a 1.5 percent increase from a year ago.
Wireline revenue was $9.8 billion for the quarter, down about $40 million from a year earlier.
On Feb. 21, Verizon closed its deal to buy Vodafone’s 45 percent share in their mobile joint venture for $130 billion. After the deal, Verizon has “great confidence in our ability to sustain these strong results,” Lowell McAdam, Verizon chairman and CEO, said in a statement.
The deal gives Verizon “full access to the very significant” cash flows of Verizon Wireless, Fran Shammo, Verizon’s CFO said during a conference call. “We’re off to a great start.”
Grant Gross covers technology and telecom policy in the U.S. government for The IDG News Service. Follow Grant on Twitter at GrantGross. Grant’s email address is grant_gross@idg.com.
