Verizon Adds 1.6 Million Wireless, 385,000 DSL in Q1

Verizon Communications added 385,000 net new broadband connections (DSL and FiOS data customers) in Q1, giving it a total of 3.9 million customers. Verizon Wireless added 1.64 million net new customers, the largest first-quarter customer increase in the history of the company. Wireless has added more than 6.5 million net new customers over the past year and now has a total of 45.5 million customers nationwide. Some highlights from Q1:


Consolidated revenues of $18.2 billion increased 6.6 percent, or $1.1 billion, compared with the first quarter 2004.


Verizon Wireless contributed $7.4 billion, or 40.8%, of first-quarter 2005 consolidated revenues. This compares with wireless revenues of $6.2 billion, or 36.1 percent of consolidated revenues, in the first quarter 2004.


Earnings were $1.8 billion, or 63 cents per diluted share.


Revenues from wireline broadband services contributed to total wireline data revenues of $2.1 billion in the first quarter 2005, an 11.6 percent increase compared with $1.9 billion in the first quarter 2004.


Revenues from wireline long-distance services, including regional toll services, were $1.1 billion in the first quarter 2005, an 8.3 percent increase compared with $1.0 billion in the first quarter 2004. The number of Verizon long-distance lines in service rose to more than 18 million, an 11.6 percent increase compared with the first quarter 2004.


Verizon residential wireline ARPU rose to $49.95 in the first quarter 2005, a 4.6 percent increase compared with the first quarter 2004, as more customers continue to choose high-value communications services. Approximately 58 percent of Verizon residential customers have purchased local services in combination with either Verizon long-distance or a Verizon broadband connection, or both. This compares with 51 percent in the first quarter 2004.


By the end of the first quarter, the company was constructing fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) broadband networks in half the states where it offers landline communications service. FTTP-based FiOS broadband services are being offered in more than 250 communities, with marketing efforts having just begun in many communities. The company plans to introduce FTTP-based FiOS TV services in the second half of the year.


Revenues of $3.8 billion in the consumer market were down $41 million compared with last year's first quarter, while business revenues of $2.8 billion and wholesale revenues of $2.1 billion were essentially flat. The segment's $114 million year-over-year revenue decline is significantly impacted by lower revenues from non-core initiatives that have been discontinued or divested since last year.


Wholesale voice connections -- which includes resale, Unbundled Network Element-Platform (UNE-P) and end-to-end wholesale voice services provided under commercial agreements -- totaled 6.4 million at the end of the first quarter 2005, up 2.3 percent from the end of the first quarter 2004 and down from 6.6 million at year-end 2004. UNE-P lines decreased by 186,000 from year-end 2004 to the end of the first quarter 2005. The company had 52.2 million switched wireline access lines in service as of the end of the first quarter, down 5.1 percent from a year ago.
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