Verizon raises profit forecast after subscriber growth

Verizon raised its annual profit forecast on Monday after revamped customer offers and bundled plans led to surprise wireless subscriber additions in the first quarter.

The company introduced promotions such as improved terms for customers switching from competitors like AT&T and T-Mobile, as part of a broader effort to revive wireless growth and strengthen its market position, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.

Verizon added 55,000 monthly bill-paying wireless subscribers during the quarter, marking its first net gains for the March-ended period in more than a decade. Analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha had expected a decline of 81,809 subscribers.

“We are beginning to reclaim our market leadership by putting the customer at the center of everything we do, reducing friction to increase loyalty and create genuine value,” Verizon CEO Dan Schulman said.

The company now expects total retail postpaid phone net additions for the year to fall in the upper half of its forecast range of 750,000 to 1 million.

Like AT&T, Verizon has increasingly relied on discounted bundled packages combining high-speed internet and wireless services, aiming to improve customer retention.

The results also reflect the inclusion of Frontier following the completion of its acquisition on January 20.

Verizon reported total quarterly revenue of $34.4 billion, compared with analyst estimates of $34.84 billion, according to data from LSEG.

Wireless service revenue growth was affected by customer credits issued after a January outage that lasted around 10 hours, during which Verizon provided a $20 credit to hundreds of thousands of customers.

The company now expects adjusted earnings for 2026 to range between $4.95 and $4.99 per share, up from its previous forecast of $4.90 to $4.95.

For the first quarter, Verizon reported adjusted earnings of $1.28 per share, exceeding expectations of $1.20.

News.Az 

By Nijat Babayev