Verizon Business Is ‘Strong’ Despite ‘Pressures’: Hans Vestberg

Here’s the results of Verizon’s first quarter 2023 financial earnings, highlighted by a drop in consumer users, but an increase in Verizon Business customers.

Verizon reported mixed financial results for its first quarter 2023 as the telecom giant added 136,000 postpaid phone net additions to its Verizon Business segment, while the carrier dropped 263,000 users in its consumer business.

“Verizon Business continued to run a strong performance, delivering 136,000 postpaid phone net adds. This was accomplished in spite of some pressures around restructurings within the technology sector,” said Verizon CEO and Chairman Hans Vestberg during the company’s quarterly earnings report with media and analysts Tuesday morning.

Verizon Business generated $7.5 billion during the first quarter of 2023, representing a decrease of 3 percent year over year. This was due to lower wireline and wireless equipment revenue that offset growth in wireless service revenue.

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Verizon Business reported wireless service revenue of $3.3 billion, up more than 5 percent year over year. The growth was driven predominantly by adding more customers onto the platform, and pricing changing that occurred during the second half of 2022 and early 2023. Overall, Verizon’s Business segment reported 312,000 wireless retail postpaid net additions in first-quarter 2023, including 136,000 postpaid phone net additions.

Verizon’s stock was trading at $37.15 per share as of Tuesday at 11 a.m. ET, up marginally after the company revealed its first quarter 2023 financial results.

Public Sector Momentum

Verizon CEO Vestberg highlighted Verizon Business market momentum in private networks, specifically in the public sector.

“In private networks, our Verizon Business team continues to execute at the high level. We now have new deals with KPMG and Deloitte and have a strong funnel of business ahead of us,” Vestberg said. “We’ve also established a leadership position as the top network provider in the public sector.”

For example, during the quarter, Verizon won a 15-year critical infrastructure contract with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) worth over $2 billion to design, build and operate the FAA’s next generation communication platform. “This is in addition to many ongoing projects, we’re working over large federal agencies,” the CEO added.

“Our business customers are increasingly turning to fixed wireless access as their primary source of broadband connectivity won over by the reliability and the overall value of the product,” Vestberg said.

5G Ultra Wideband Reaches 200 Million People

Vestberg highlighted the company’s 5G Ultra Wideband service, which recently became available to more than 200 million people in the U.S.

“Our 5G Ultra Wideband now reaches more than 200 million people as we continue to undergo the most aggressive network deployment in our company’s history,” said Verizon’s CEO. “With our mobile and broadband capabilities, and our focus on network strength, we are giving more customers in more places a superior network experience.”

Furthermore, Verizon is seeing 4G customers benefit from the 5G Ultra Wideband network.

“We also see 4G customers benefiting as we offload traffic in some markets to our 5G Ultra Wideband network. The performance improvements will continue as 5G penetration expands market by market,” said Vestberg.

Total Verizon Sales: $32.9 Billion

Verizon, one of the largest cell phone carriers in America, posted total revenue of $32.9 billion, down 2 percent year over year.

Overall, Vestberg said Verizon is focused on driving service revenue as well as not competing with its competitors around discounts.

“We remain committed to our strategy not to compete on who can discount the most, but rather who can offer the most value to customers, the best overall experience and the best customer satisfaction,” said Verizon’s CEO.