(Reuters) – Verizon Communications Inc on Tuesday missed first-quarter revenue estimates and reported wireless subscriber losses as a pandemic-led boom in demand fizzled out.
While some of that impact was offset by a surge in the broadband business thanks to Verizon scaling up the technology behind 5G connectivity, its fast-growing rivals AT&T Inc and T-Mobile are catching up with increased promotions and more developed 5G networks.
Inflation-hit Americans are also putting off their device upgrades and seeking cheaper plans.
AT&T CEO John Stankey last week said lower-income consumers were making “the kind of decisions that people make when money is a little bit tighter”.
Verizon, whose plans are the most expensive among U.S. peers, lost 127,000 net new monthly bill-paying wireless phone subscribers in the quarter. Factset had estimated a loss of 121,000 subscribers.
The company’s total revenue fell 1.9% to $32.9 billion in the quarter ended March 31, below analysts’ estimates of $33.57 billion, according to Refinitiv data.
Net income, however, rose 6.5% to $5 billion from a year earlier.
Excluding items, Verizon earned $1.20 per share.
(Reporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
