Verizon reported Q1 revenue of $29.4 billion, a 4.2 percent increase compared with first-quarter 2012, and 68 cents in EPS, a 15.3 percent increase compared with first-quarter 2012 earnings of 59 cents per share. Growth was driven by an 8.6 percent year-over-year increase in wireless service revenues, 4.3 percent year-over-year increase in wireline consumer revenues, and a 6.0 percent year-over-year increase in revenues for global enterprise strategic services. Q1 CAPEX was $3.6 billion, flat year over year.
“Verizon is off to an excellent start in 2013,” said Lowell McAdam, Verizon chairman and CEO. “Our strategic investments in wireless, wireline and global networks have given us the platforms to sustain momentum and take advantage of growth opportunities in key markets for broadband, video and cloud services. With ongoing improvements in operating efficiency, we expect continued growth in free cash flow and earnings as we move through the year.”
Some highlights:
Wireless
- Verizon Wireless added 677,000 retail postpaid net connections, out of a total 720,000 net retail connections, in the first quarter.
- At the end of Q1, the company had 98.9 million retail connections, a 6.4 percent increase year over year — including 93.2 million retail postpaid connections.
- Verizon Wireless had 34.9 million retail postpaid accounts at the end of the first quarter, a 1.1 percent increase over first-quarter 2012, and an average of 2.7 connections per account, up 5.1 percent year over year.
- At the end of the first quarter, smartphones accounted for more than 61 percent of the Verizon Wireless retail postpaid customer phone base, up from 58 percent at the end of fourth-quarter 2012.
- Retail postpaid churn was 1.01 percent in the first quarter, up 5 basis points year over year. Retail churn was 1.30 percent in the first quarter, up 6 basis points year over year.
- As of April 18, Verizon Wireless 4G LTE service is available to 287 million people in 491 markets across the U.S., covering more than 95 percent of Verizon’s current 3G network footprint.
Wireline
- Verizon added 188,000 net new FiOS Internet connections in first-quarter 2013, marking the third consecutive quarter of sequential growth in net customer additions. The company also added 169,000 net new FiOS Video connections in the quarter. Verizon had a total of 5.6 million FiOS Internet and 4.9 million FiOS Video connections at the end of the quarter, representing year-over-year increases of 12.0 percent and 12.5 percent, respectively.
- FiOS penetration (subscribers as a percentage of potential subscribers) continued to increase. FiOS Internet penetration was 38.2 percent at the end of first-quarter 2013, compared with 36.4 percent at the end of first-quarter 2012. In the same periods,
- FiOS Video penetration was 34.1 percent, compared with 32.3 percent. The FiOS network passed 17.8 million premises by the end of first-quarter 2013.
- Broadband connections totaled 8.9 million at the end of first-quarter 2013, a 1.4 percent year-over-year increase. Overall, net broadband customers increased 99,000 in the first quarter, as FiOS Internet net customer additions more than offset fewer subscribers for DSL-based High Speed Internet services.
- Verizon has been replacing high-maintenance portions of its residential copper network with fiber optics to provide enhanced services and to reduce ongoing repair costs. In first-quarter 2013, Verizon migrated 83,000 homes to fiber, toward a target of 300,000 migrations within FiOS markets in 2013.
- Verizon Enterprise Solutions completed agreements with and began deploying innovative business technology solutions for a variety of corporations and organizations in the quarter, including the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Ocean Exploration Trust, Quest Diagnostics and Synchronoss Technologies (Nasdaq: SNCR).
