The Register®

Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07/27/verizon_q2_2005/

Verizon closes in on Cingular

An $18 billion Q2

By Andrew Orlowski in San Francisco (andrew.orlowski@theregister.co.uk)

Posted in Mobile, 27th July 2005 06:34 GMT

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Verizon booked $2.11bn of profit on revenues of $18.57bn in 2Q. As an added bonus, CEO Ivan Seidenberg didn't make any howlers [1] - but then he left the talking to his CFO.

The $1.6bn sale of Verizon's Hawaiian business added $330m to the bottom line in the quarter ending June 30.

Verizon's jointly-owned mobile network, Verizon Wireless, took the credit for the quarter, adding 1.9m subscribers in the three months. The group saw revenue of $7.8bn, up 15 per cent on a year ago, and not far behind the wireline group, which, while still the largest part of Verizon, continues to slip.

Wireline has lost over half a million subscribers, or 5.5 per cent of its existing business. DSL and cable continue to grow, however, up 44 per cent from a year ago with 4.1m accounts signed up.

"We're growing vertically instead of horizontally," said CFO Doreen Toben.

Verizon Wireless now boasts 47.4m subscribers, just behind Cingular which reported its numbers [2] last week. Cingular has 49.1m users, but Verizon can claim lower churn (1.01pc of retail postpaid) and ARPU of $49.42, a shade under the leader.

In a conference call, CEO Ivan Seidenberg credited the cellular growth to a refreshed plans and new handsets coming on stream.

Verizon hopes to wrap up the acquisition of MCI - the most tedious acquisition merger of the year - by the end of the year. ®

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