Verizon helped kick off telecoms earnings season on a sour note this morning with its first quarter results. Revenues of $29.8 billion, whereas analysts had been expecting more like $30.5 billion.
Excluding one time items, earnings per share of $0.95 also came in three cents under expectations.
On the wireless side, revenues were $20.9 billion, down 5.1% over the same quarter last year due to decreased overage revenue and fewer postpaid customers. They saw retail postpaid churn of 1.15% during the quarter. LTE traffic levels were up 57% over the same quarter last year, however.
During Q2 the company plans to roll out some 11 pre-commercial 5G pilots as it prepares for the next technology wave.
On the wireline side, FIOS revenues were up 4.7% over the same period last year, adding some 35K connections while losing 13K on the video piece. Revenues were down 0.6% to $7.9B, and down 3.2% if one excludes the contribution from XO Communications.
Earlier this week Verizon did a big deal for fiber from Corning for its nextgen wireless backhaul buildout and was talking up high profile merger possibilities with the likes of Comcast, Disney, CBS, and Charter.
This article was authored by Rob Powell and was originally posted on Telecomramblings.com
Rob Powell is founder & editor of Telecom Ramblings, which was set up in 2008. The website is dedicated to discussing trends and developments in the telecom industry.