Verizon Wireless profits and subscribers were up in fourth quarter 2007 while landlines decreased. Verizon had a 10.6 percent drop in consumer lines due to stiff
competition. Verizon lost 875,000 phone lines in the quarter, including
476,000 primary home-phone lines, as customers switched to cable
voice plans or began using wireless service exclusively.
Verizon Wireless wast the most profitable domestic wireless
company and the largest in terms of retail customers. In the fourth
quarter:
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Total customers increased to 65.7 million, up 11.3 percent year-over-year.
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1.6 million of a total 2.0 million (retail and wholesale) net customer additions were retail post-paid customers.
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Verizon Wireless continued its industry-leading customer loyalty,
with 1.20 percent total churn. Churn among retail post-paid customers,
93 percent of all its customers, was under 1.0 percent for the quarter
and the full year. -
Total revenues in the quarter were $11.4 billion, up 13.3 percent;
service revenues were $9.9 billion, up 13.7 percent, driven by customer
growth and demand for data services. Full-year revenues were $43.9
billion, up 15.3 percent. -
ARPU (average monthly revenue per customer) levels increased
year-over-year for the seventh consecutive quarter: retail ARPU of
$51.49 was up 1.4 percent; retail data ARPU of $11.06 was up 36.0
percent. -
Wireless operating income margin was 26.2 percent. EBITDA margin
on service revenues (non-GAAP) was 43.6 percent. (EBITDA is earnings
before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.) -
Customers sent nearly 45 billion text
messages and 927 million picture/video messages.
- Customers completed 30
million music and video downloads.
- Verizon Wireless continued to extend the reach of its nationwide
high-speed wireless broadband network, powered by EV-DO Revision A
(Rev. A) technology, making it available to more than 240 million
Americans by year-end. More than half of the company’s retail
customers — 35 million — had broadband-capable devices by year-end.