Verizon Wireless posts hearty Q4: Fails to match AT&T’s growth; continues to lead in customer retention, revenue

Verizon Wireless failed to match the iPhone-fueled growth of larger rival AT&T Mobility during the fourth quarter, but don’t feel bad for the industry’s No. 2 player. The carrier posted its own fair share of industry-leading metrics.
Verizon Wireless said it added 2 million net customers during the fourth quarter of 2007, including 1.9 million through its direct, non-wholesale channels. The results were down from the 2.3 million customers the carrier added during the fourth quarter of 2006 and fell short of the U.S. industry record 2.7 million net customer additions posted by AT&T Mobility during the final three months of 2007, though the industry’s No. 1 counted only 1.2 million direct net adds during the quarter. Despite the overall shortfall compared with its larger rival, Verizon Wireless did manage to beat analysts estimates of around 1.9 million net adds for the quarter.
Helping propel the customer growth was an industry low 1.2% customer churn, which was down sequentially from the 1.24% posted during the third quarter, but a slight increase from the 1.14% reported for the fourth quarter of 2006.
For the year Verizon Wireless said it added 6.7 million customers, which was a 13.7% drop from 2006, ending 2007 with 65.7 million customers on its network.
Customer revenue climbed from an average of $50.78 per month during the fourth quarter of 2006 to $51.49 in 2007, though fell slightly from the $52.17 posted during the third quarter of 2007. Verizon Wireless added that data revenues accounted for an average of $11.06 per month of customer revenue, which was a company high.
The strong revenue growth helped push the carrier’s total revenue from $10.1 billion during the fourth quarter of 2006 to $11.443 billion in 2007, just nipping the $11.355 billion reported by AT&T Mobility. Verizon Wireless’ full-year revenues jumped more than 15% from $38 billion in 2006 to $43.9 billion last year, also just beating out the $42.7 billion recorded by AT&T Mobility. Net income also increased from $812 million during the fourth quarter of 2006 to $990 million last year, while full-year income surged 27.5% from $3 billion in 2006 to $3.8 billion in 2007. For comparison, AT&T Mobility reported $1.9 billion in segment income for the fourth quarter of 2007 and $6.8 billion for the full year.
Verizon Communications Inc.’s stock remained relatively unchanged on the news.