Verizon Communications Inc. said it added 1.52 million of its
most lucrative long-term wireless contracts in the third quarter,
again driven by a surge in tablet connections.
Verizon has relied heavily on signing up tablets as a way of
keeping its subscriber numbers positive and has even given away
tablets free when customers add them to their data plan.
In the latest period, postpaid tablet additions of 1.1 million
more than doubled postpaid phone additions of 457,000.
Shares of Verizon, down 1.3% this year through Monday, rose 12
cents to $48.60 in premarket trading.
The company in late February completed its deal to gain full
ownership of Verizon Wireless, buying Vodafone Group PLC's 45%
stake in the wireless carrier for $130 billion. The acquisition is
expected to sharply increase Verizon's profits this year and will
give the company more flexibility in driving Verizon Wireless's
future. Verizon has said it is looking to focus on smartphone
penetration and connected devices, such as cars and tablets, to
boost sales at Verizon Wireless.
Wireless providers are expecting to spend billions of dollars in
upcoming years in government-run wireless spectrum auctions, as
they seek to beef up their networks. Verizon and AT&T Inc., the
two largest U.S. wireless providers, may face limits to how much
spectrum they are allowed to purchase, though, as government
regulators try to keep smaller providers T-Mobile US Inc. and
Sprint Corp. competitive against their larger rivals.
Overall, Verizon posted a quarterly profit of $3.7 billion, or
89 cents a share, compared with $2.23 billion, or 78 cents a share,
a year earlier. Excluding items in the year-ago quarter, the
company had per-share earnings of 77 cents in the 2013 quarter.
Revenue rose 4.3% to $31.59 billion.
Wall Street analysts on average expected a profit of 90 cents a
share and revenue of $31.58 billion, according to Thomson
Reuters.
Write to Erin McCarthy at erin.mccarthy@wsj.com
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