Verizon Adds 406,000 Subscribers and Raises Postpaid Phone Target to 1.2 Million
Key Facts
Verizon added 406,000 postpaid phone subscribers in the third quarter of 2026, an increase of more than 820% year over year and its strongest performance for the quarter in five years, according to the company. The additions prompted it to raise its annual target to 1.1–1.2 million subscribers, from the upper half of its previous range of 750,000–1 million. It also recorded 137,000 net additions to postpaid accounts, its best performance in more than a decade. In the first nine months of the year, the company added about 1.7 million mobility and broadband subscribers, compared with 879,000 in the same period of 2025. The figures point to improved customer acquisition, while total revenue remained below analysts’ expectations.
Revenue from mobility and broadband services reached 23.5 billion dollars in the third quarter, up 2.9% year over year, according to Verizon’s statement. Growth accelerated from 1.6% in the first quarter to 2.8% in the second, indicating sequential improvement in service revenue. By contrast, device revenue fell 9% year over year. The company attributed the decline mainly to a significant drop in phone upgrades as customers held on to their devices longer, as well as its strategic decision to reduce spending on device subsidies. The divergence puts service growth against weaker device sales, which weighed on total revenue despite the expanding subscriber base.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose 8% year over year to 13.8 billion dollars, the company’s highest quarterly level, according to its statement. The margin climbed to 40.2% in the third quarter from 37.8% in the same period of 2025. Net income reached 5.3 billion dollars, up 5.2% year over year. Adjusted earnings per share, excluding special items, rose to 1.31 dollars from 1.21 dollars a year earlier, an increase of 8.3%. Verizon raised its 2026 adjusted earnings-per-share forecast to 5.04–5.06 dollars from 4.99–5.04 dollars, with expected year-over-year growth of between 7% and 7.5%.
Free cash flow reached 7.8 billion dollars in the third quarter, up 12.1% from the same period last year, and totaled 18 billion dollars in the first nine months, an increase of 14.3%. For the full year, Verizon expects free cash flow growth in 2026 to approach 12%, compared with its previous forecast range of 9% to 10%. Cash flow from operations was 11.5 billion dollars in the third quarter, up 2.2% year over year. In the first nine months, it totaled 29.9 billion dollars, compared with 28 billion dollars in the same period of 2025. These figures offer a picture of the company’s ability to generate cash alongside higher annual forecasts for earnings and cash flow.
In broadband, Verizon added 314,000 net connections in the third quarter, including 159,000 fixed wireless access connections and 155,000 fiber connections, bringing its total to 17.4 million. The additions show that both home connectivity channels contributed to customer-base growth alongside postpaid phones. This growth came as part of about 1.7 million mobility and broadband subscriber additions in the first nine months, compared with 879,000 a year earlier. The broader connectivity base underscores the importance of services in the company’s business mix, alongside accelerating revenue growth in mobility and broadband. But the company could not avoid the impact of declining device revenue on quarterly total revenue.
On October 26, Verizon announced an agreement worth more than 2 billion dollars with AWS to establish a commercial framework enabling the expansion of distributed computing and meeting the needs of generative AI and agent applications. The agreement includes providing high-capacity fiber connections to AWS data centers. Chief Executive Dan Schulman said on the earnings call that the company was in discussions with major cloud providers, emerging cloud service providers and enterprise customers to provide dark or lit fiber connectivity. The agreement adds a commercial channel for using its fiber network to meet data center needs, alongside its existing telecom services. The company did not specify in its announcements the expected revenue from the agreement.
Despite beating analysts’ earnings expectations and raising its annual guidance, Verizon shares fell 3.5% on Monday, October 26, according to the Associated Press, after revenue came in below expectations. The stock closed at 43.1 dollars that day, according to EL7 data. The share move reflects the mixed results: strong growth in additions, earnings and cash flow, offset by a revenue miss against market estimates. The new forecasts include higher targets for postpaid phone additions, earnings per share and free cash flow in 2026. The company also targets free cash flow growth of about 12% for the year, compared with a previous range of 9% to 10%.