Verizon Communications Inc. raised its annual forecast for wireless subscriber growth on Monday, buoyed by the rapid adoption of its revamped, simplified service tiers and a $2 billion artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure agreement with Amazon Web Services.
The telecommunications giant delivered a standout third quarter in core customer acquisition, adding 406,000 monthly-bill-paying postpaid phone subscribers. The figure nearly doubled Wall Street expectations of 209,439, according to data from Visible Alpha.
Citing sustained momentum, Verizon lifted its full-year guidance. The carrier now projects adding between 1.1 million and 1.2 million postpaid phone subscribers this year, up from its previous target of 750,000 to 1 million. Full-year adjusted earnings per share are now expected to land between $5.04 and $5.06, compared to the prior range of $4.99 to $5.04.
Despite the strong subscriber gains, Verizon shares slipped 2.5% in early trading as total revenue disappointed. Third-quarter revenue came in at $34.3 billion, missing analyst estimates of $34.74 billion compiled by LSEG. Top-line results were dampened by a persistent slump in equipment sales, as consumers held on to older smartphones longer following the company’s rollback of handset subsidies — a headwind Verizon expects to linger through the fourth quarter.
The performance marks a pivotal chapter in CEO Dan Schulman’s turnaround strategy. One year into his tenure, Schulman has restructured corporate operations to trim overhead and streamlined the company’s consumer portfolio, highlighted by June’s rollout of the “Simplicity” plan featuring transparent pricing and unlimited data.
Simultaneously, Verizon is aggressively repositioning its sprawling network assets to capitalize on the generative AI boom.
Under the new multibillion-dollar agreement with AWS, Verizon will supply high-capacity fiber-optic links to connect AWS data centers, enabling the low-latency bandwidth essential for heavy AI workloads. The deal follows a $1 billion dark-fiber pact signed with Google in July.
During an investor call, Schulman confirmed the carrier is in active discussions with other hyperscalers, emerging cloud operators, and enterprise customers to monetize its terrestrial fiber footprint.
Schulman also brushed off long-term competition from SpaceX’s satellite mobile ambitions, estimating that replicating a terrestrial network of equivalent scale would take four to six years and cost up to $500 billion, adding that Verizon intends to remain “ferociously competitive.”
