Verizon Communications Q2 Earnings Call Highlights

Verizon raised its 2026 outlook after a stronger second quarter, now expecting higher mobility and broadband service revenue growth, adjusted EPS growth of 6% to 7%, and free cash flow growth of 9% to 10%. The company also lifted its share repurchase commitment to as much as $4.5 billion. Subscriber trends improved notably, with 184,000 postpaid phone net additions and more than 550,000 total mobility and broadband net additions. Churn fell, prepaid added 73,000 customers, and management said promotional spending and upgrade volumes are declining. Verizon’s new consumer offers and fiber strategy are helping support growth, with the company saying its Simplicity and Verizon One plans are exceeding internal expectations. It also sees a future revenue opportunity from AI infrastructure connectivity, including a recently announced deal with Google valued at more than $1 billion.

Verizon Communications NYSE: VZ raised its full-year 2026 outlook for mobility and broadband service revenue, adjusted earnings per share and free cash flow after reporting improved subscriber trends, lower churn and stronger operating leverage in the second quarter. Chief Executive Officer Dan Schulman said the company’s customer-focused transformation was producing “a structural and meaningful inflection” in operating and financial performance. Verizon reported 184,000 postpaid phone net additions during the quarter, including its strongest consumer postpaid phone net-add result in five years. Total mobility and broadband net additions exceeded 550,000.

The company also reported 348,000 broadband net additions, comprising 193,000 fixed wireless access additions and 155,000 fiber additions. Verizon ended the quarter with more than 17.1 million broadband subscribers and said it remained on track to reach more than 32 million fiber passings by year-end.

Consumer postpaid phone churn was 0.84% in the second quarter, down from 0.90% in the first quarter and 0.95% in the fourth quarter of 2025. The result marked a six-basis-point improvement from a year earlier. Overall postpaid phone churn improved five basis points year over year. Schulman said the company has begun growing both accounts and lines, with net new accounts positive for the past two months. During the question-and-answer session, he said Verizon expects positive new account growth in the third quarter as well. Verizon also continued to grow its prepaid business. Prepaid net additions totaled 73,000, representing the company’s eighth consecutive quarter of positive prepaid additions. Prepaid revenue rose about $90 million, or nearly 5%, from the prior-year period. The company attributed its improving customer economics partly to reduced promotional spending. Schulman said consumer promotional acquisition costs declined approximately 15% year over year, while promotional retention costs fell about 17%. Chief Financial Officer Tony Skiadas added that upgrade volumes declined nearly 27% from the prior year.

Mobility and broadband service revenue totaled $23.4 billion in the second quarter, rising 2.8% year over year and improving from 1.6% growth in the first quarter. Wireless service revenue declined 0.7% to $20.8 billion, while total revenue fell 0.7% to $34.3 billion. Skiadas said lower equipment revenue, which declined by more than $1.2 billion, reflected the company’s lower upgrade volumes. Adjusted EBITDA was $13.7 billion, up 7.2% year over year, and adjusted EBITDA margin reached 40...