Verizon reported revenue of $34.3 billion for Q4 2015, a 3.2 percent increase compared with fourth-quarter 2014. Earnings came in at $1.32 per share, or 89 cents per share on an adjusted basis (non-GAAP).
“In 2015, Verizon delivered strong and balanced results in a dynamic competitive environment while returning more than $13.5 billion to shareholders. At the same time, Verizon built and acquired next-generation network capabilities that position the company to be an innovator in the digital-first mobile world in 2016 and beyond,” said Chairman and CEO Lowell McAdam.
Some highlights from the quarterly report:
Wireless
- Total revenues were $23.7 billion in fourth-quarter 2015, up 1.2 percent compared with fourth-quarter 2014. Service revenues totaled $17.2 billion, down 5.6 percent year over year. Over the same period, equipment revenues increased to $5.4 billion, up from $4.2 billion, as more customers chose to buy new devices with installment pricing.
- For the year, total revenues were $91.7 billion, a 4.6 percent increase compared with 2014.
- Verizon Wireless reported 1.5 million retail postpaid net additions in fourth-quarter 2015 and 4.5 million for the full year. These net additions do not include any wholesale or IoT connections.
- Customer retention remained high, with retail postpaid churn at a low 0.96 percent in fourth-quarter 2015, a year-over-year improvement of 18 basis points. Churn was also 0.96 percent for the year, an improvement of 8 basis points from full-year 2014.
- Verizon added 906,000 4G smartphones to its postpaid customer base in fourth-quarter 2015. Postpaid phone net adds totaled 449,000 as net smartphone adds of 713,000 were partially offset by a net decline of basic phones. Tablet net adds totaled 960,000 in the quarter, and net prepaid devices declined by 157,000.
- At year-end 2015, the company had 112.1 million retail connections, a 3.6 percent year-over-year increase, and 106.5 million retail postpaid connections, a 4.4 percent year-over-year increase.
- 4G devices now constitute more than 79 percent of the retail postpaid connections base, with the LTE network handling approximately 90 percent of total wireless data traffic in fourth-quarter 2015. Overall traffic on LTE increased by approximately 60 percent in fourth-quarter 2015, compared with fourth-quarter 2014.
- About 8.4 percent of Verizon’s retail postpaid base upgraded to a new device in fourth-quarter 2015. At year-end, there were 73 million smartphones in Verizon’s customer base.
- Wireless capital investment totaled $3.3 billion in fourth-quarter 2015 and $11.7 billion for the year, up 11.5 percent from 2014. Verizon continues to expand capacity and optimize its network, as the company prepares to pilot 5G technology in 2016.
Wireline
- In fourth-quarter 2015, consumer revenues were $4.1 billion, an increase of 2.6 percent compared with fourth-quarter 2014. Fios revenues represented 80.4 percent of the total.
- Comparing fourth-quarter 2015 with fourth-quarter 2014, total Fios revenues grew 6.8 percent, to $3.5 billion, and consumer Fios revenues grew 6.6 percent.
- Verizon added 99,000 net new Fios internet connections and 20,000 net new Fios video connections in fourth-quarter 2015. Connections totaled 7.0 million for Fios internet and 5.8 million for Fios video at the end of 2015, representing year-over-year increases of 6.3 percent and 3.2 percent, respectively.
- Fios internet penetration (subscribers as a percentage of potential subscribers) was 41.8 percent at the end of 2015, compared with 41.1 percent at the end of 2014. In the same periods, Fios video penetration was 35.3 percent, compared with 35.8 percent.
- By year-end 2015, more than 70 percent of consumer Fios internet customers subscribed to data speeds of 50 megabits per second or higher. In addition, customer interest continues to grow for Custom TV, which represented about one-third of Fios video sales in fourth-quarter 2015.
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