Verizon reported strong Q2 performance, including the addition of over 2.5 million LTE subscriptions and significant increases in operating cash flow. Verizon Wireless generated record-high margins and strong operational results, and Verizon's Wireline segment generated continued increases in revenues from FiOS fiber-optic services and strategic business services. Verizon's total operating revenues were $28.6 billion on a consolidated basis, an increase of 3.7 percent compared with second-quarter 2011. Consolidated operating income was $5.7 billion in second-quarter 2012, compared with $4.9 billion in second-quarter 2011. Consolidated EBITDA (non-GAAP, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) totaled $9.8 billion in second-quarter 2012, compared with $9.0 billion in second-quarter 2011.
"Verizon delivered another strong quarter of earnings growth and cash generation, and we remain on track to meet our financial objectives and produce solid double-digit earnings growth for the year," said Lowell McAdam, Verizon chairman and CEO.
In its conference call, Verizon said it is "very pleased" with the pace of LTE consumer adoption. Verizon now has nearly 11 million LTE subscribers, representing 12% of its 89 million retail postpaid connections. About 70% are smartphones and 30% are Internet devices. This means 19% of the company's smartphone base has an LTE handset. During the quarter, Verizon Wireless sold 2.9 million DROID smartphones, 2.5 million of which were #LTE, and 2.7 million Apple iPhones, up from 2.3 million a year ago. Of LTE sales, 20% were new to Verizon and 80% were upgrades.
Some Wireless Highlights
- Service revenues in the quarter totaled $15.8 billion, up 7.3 percent year over year. Retail service revenues grew 8.6 percent year over year, to $15.2 billion.
- Data revenues were $6.9 billion, up $1.1 billion - or 18.5 percent - year over year, and represent 43.6 percent of all service revenues. Total revenues were $18.6 billion, up 7.4 percent year over year.
- Retail postpaid ARPU grew 3.7 percent over second-quarter 2011, to a record $56.13, the highest growth in three years. Retail postpaid data ARPU increased to $24.53, up 15.4 percent year over year. Retail service ARPU grew 3.4 percent year over year, to a record $54.29.
- Added 1.2 million retail net customers in the second quarter, including 888,000 retail postpaid net customers.
- At the end of Q2, the company had 94.2 million retail customers, a 4.9 percent increase year over year, including 88.8 million retail postpaid customers.
- Smartphones constituted 50 percent of Verizon Wireless' retail postpaid customer phone base, up from 47 percent at the end of first-quarter 2012.
- Retail postpaid churn was 0.84 percent, the lowest in four years, and an improvement of 5 basis points year over year. Total retail churn was 1.11 percent, an improvement of 11 basis points year over year.
Some Wireline Highlights
- Wireline operating revenues were $9.9 billion, a decline of 3.1 percent compared with second-quarter 2011. Wireline operating income margin was 1.9 percent, compared with 1.6 percent in first-quarter 2012 and 3.1 percent in second-quarter 2011. Segment EBITDA margin (non-GAAP) was 23.1 percent in second-quarter 2012, compared with 22.6 percent in first-quarter 2012 and 23.8 percent in second-quarter 2011.
- Consumer revenues grew 2.5 percent compared with second-quarter 2011, the highest increase in several years. Consumer ARPU for wireline services reached more than $100 for the first time, increasing to $100.26 in second-quarter 2012, up 8.5 percent compared with second-quarter 2011.
- ARPU for FiOS customers increased to more than $149 in second-quarter 2012. FiOS services produced 65 percent of consumer wireline revenues in second-quarter 2012. Approximately 70 percent of FiOS consumer customers have purchased a "triple play" of phone, Internet and TV services.
- Global enterprise revenues totaled $3.8 billion in the quarter, down 3.4 percent compared with second-quarter 2011. Sales of strategic services increased 4.4 percent compared with second-quarter 2011 and represented 52 percent of global enterprise revenues in second-quarter 2012. Strategic services include Terremark cloud services, security and IT solutions, and strategic networking.
- Verizon added 134,000 net new FiOS Internet connections and 120,000 net new FiOS Video connections in second-quarter 2012. Verizon had a total of 5.1 million FiOS Internet and 4.5 million FiOS Video connections at the end of the quarter.
- FiOS Internet penetration was 36.6 percent at the end of second-quarter 2012, compared with 33.9 percent at the end of second-quarter 2011. In the same periods, FiOS Video penetration was 32.6 percent, compared with 29.9 percent. The FiOS network now passes more than 17 million premises.
- Broadband connections totaled 8.8 million at the end of second-quarter 2012, a 2.6 percent year-over-year increase.
- Verizon launched several network projects during the second quarter, including deployment of next-generation routing equipment on the global Private IP network to meet growth demands, improve scalability and support 10 gigabit customer access ports and 40G and 100G backbone trunk ports; and a long-term core network architecture project for a common multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) backbone platform that will support current and future service demands.
- The company also launched its first major initiative to build additional control plane technology into its network infrastructure. This will allow Verizon to deliver on the promise of cloud-based and mobility-enabled industry solutions, as well as enable rapid and automated recovery of complex optical mesh networks.
