The high points of the earnings report:

• Verizon Wireless gained 1.6 million customers, but lost 300,000 after (heh heh) Amp'd Mobile went bankrupt. (AT&T in the same period scored 1.5 million)
• Revenues were up 6.3%.
• Customers spent an average of $57.47 per month, up 11%, mainly due to the FiOS fiber optic service.
• The FiOS unit gained 203,000 new subscribers, more than Verizon's DSL internet service unit.

And the low points:

• Verizon acquired Rural Cellular, a GSM carrier, paying a 40% premium over the current stock price.
• The iPhone caused "an impact" with some customers porting numbers over to rival AT&T
• Landline revenue fell 1.1%
• In total, the number of broadband subscribers fell 35% from last year.

The bad news centered around the sudden decrease in broadband customers which was not confined to only Verizon (AT&T and Comcast reported similar losses).

Verizon's purchase of Rural Cellular was a little odd, too - the company plans to take the 700k GSM subscribers and turn them into CDMA customers.

All in all, it wasn't a bad quarter - Verizon's numbers matched analysts' estimates. While the company's stock initially fell by 1.2%, it managed to bounce back with a vengeance today.

Source: "Verizon Profit Rises; Broadband Growth Shows 35% Decline" - IBD

Tags: earnings, verizon

The latest Nokia cell phone blog entries can be found on the main page.