Verizon Communications Inc on Monday said quarterly profit rose on strong wireless sales, shrugging off the impact of a weaker economy and offsetting a fall in landline users. The No 2 US phone service provider said its second-quarter earnings rose to $1.88 billion, or 66 cents a share, from $1.68 billion, or 58 cents a share, a year earlier.
Excluding items such as merger integration costs, earnings rose to 67 cents, beating the average analyst forecast for 64 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates. Quarterly revenue rose to $24.12 billion from $23.27 billion. Verizon Wireless, owned by Verizon and Vodafone Group Plc, added a net 1.5 million subscribers in the quarter, taking its total subscriber base to 68.7 million.
In addition to growth in the wireless business, Verizon reported growth in its FiOS high-speed Internet and video service, a key part of its strategy to bolster its wireline business even as more customers disconnect their traditional phone services. It said it added 176,000 new FiOS TV customers, bringing the total to nearly 1.4 million. It added 187,000 FiOS Internet customers, bringing the total to 2 million.
"Verizon continued to grow in all key strategic areas in the second quarter, despite the economic headwinds," said Verizon Chairman and CEO Ivan Seidenberg. The results showed it was continuing to lose traditional phone customers, with residential switched access lines down 11.4 percent from a year earlier.