Verizon Communications Inc reported a bigger-than-expected fall in quarterly revenue as the Number one U.S. wireless carrier's operations were disrupted by a strike involving its wireline workers and more customers opted for cheaper plans.
Verizon also signed up far fewer new retail wireless postpaid customers than expected in the quarter that ended June 30, and its shares slipped 0.4 percent in premarket trading. The company's total operating revenue fell to $30.53 billion in the second quarter, from $32.22 billion a year earlier.
Verizon added a net 615,000 wireless retail postpaid subscribers, compared with the 784,000 expected on average by analysts surveyed by market research firm FactSet StreetAccount.
Sprint Corp, the No. 4 U.S. wireless carrier, added a net 173,000 postpaid phone subscribers in the period - the biggest increase for any first quarter in nine years.
Verizon's net income attributable to Verizon fell to $702 million, or 17 cents per share, from $4.23 billion, or $1.04 per share, a year earlier. A strike by about 40,000 Verizon wireline employees, which lasted nearly seven weeks, reduced earnings by about 7 cents per share, the company said.
The earnings also took into account a non-cash charge of $2.2 billion, mostly associated with new labour contracts and the sale of local landline businesses to Frontier Communications Corp.
Excluding items, Verizon earned 94 cents per share, beating the average analysts' estimate of 92 cents.
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