Verizon on Tuesday reported another strong set of financial results, as demand for high-speed mobile broadband drove revenue and customer growth.
In the second quarter, the U.S. telco giant generated revenue of US$32.2 billion, up 2.4% on last year. Pretax profit increased to $6.6 billion from $6.5 billion, while net income edged up 0.7% to $4.4 billion.
"Verizon has delivered another quarter of strong financial and operational results, based on consistent network reliability and superior value that continues to attract new customers," said CEO Lowell McAdam, in a statement.
On the mobile side, Verizon’s retail postpaid additions came in at an impressive 1.1 million, of which 91.7% were smartphone customers. Verizon’s prepaid base shrank by 126,000 during the quarter, leaving the company with 109.5 million mobile subscribers in total at the end of June, compared to 104.6 million a year ago.
Wireless revenue increased to $22.6 billion from $21.5 billion, while EBITDA jumped 9.1% to $9.9 billion.
Verizon’s results were less impressive on the fixed side. The company added 98,000 new FiOS subscribers, driven by the addition of 72,000 new high-speed Internet customers. This was significantly fewer than the 329,000 FiOS customers Verizon added in the three months to 30 June 2014. In total, the telco ended the quarter with 17.2 million FiOS connections.
Wireline revenue fell 2.2% to $9.4 billion, while EBITDA fell 2.1% to $2.2 billion.
Verizon also pointed out that the contribution to its revenue from new services such as the Internet of Things (IoT) is growing. In the second quarter, the company generated revenue of $165 million from IoT and telematics services.
Going forward, Verizon expects higher year-on-year revenue growth in the third quarter, and full-year revenue to increase by 3% compared to 2014.
The outlook excludes the expected contribution from AOL, which Verizon acquired for $4.4 billion in late June.
"We’re now poised to offer customers exciting new over-the-top (OTT) mobile video services, and we look forward to a very positive second half of 2015," McAdam said.
