Verizon post Q2 loss on layoffs

On the broadband side, the company added 196,000 new FiOS Internet customers this quarter, compared with 185,000 in the previous quarter, bringing the total to 3.8 million. The company counts a slightly greater number of homes passed for FiOS broadband - 12.9 million - for a FiOS Internet penetration of 30 percent.

The company a total of 9

FiOS broadband plus DSL gave the company a total of 9.3 million broadband connections. Given the company had 9.3 million total broadband customers this quarter, of which 3.8 million were FiOS subs, and 9.1 million customers last quarter, of which 3 million were FiOS, then the company lost about half a million DSL subs during the second quarter.

Verizon has been upgrading its network in some markets with fiber-to-the-home, through which it provides its FiOS TV, broadband and VoIP services. It severely curtailed its expansion, however. It's now focusing on completing the build-out in areas where it already has a franchise to sell cable TV services over fiber.

Growth opportunity

Though FiOS continues to constitute a growth opportunity, it represents one of the smaller slices of the company's business - about 16 percent. Verizon reported that 83 percent of its consolidated revenues come from wireless and global business customers.

Verizon did well in the highly competitive wireless business, attracting 665,000 customers under contract. That's fewer than in past years, but contract-signing customers have been drying up for all carriers this year, and Verizon bested chief rival AT&T Inc., which Thursday reported getting a net 496,000 contracts signed in the quarter. AT&T had help from the launch of a new iPhone model in the last few days of the period.

Verizon Wireless has been positioning phones using Google Inc.'s Android software as the alternative to the iPhone, and Killian said this is working well.

Verizon sold off areas with 2 million wireless subscribers to AT&T Inc. and Atlantic Tele-Network Inc. in the quarter to satisfy regulatory requirements for last year's acquisition of Alltel Corp. It's still the largest cell phone company in the U.S., with 92.1 million subscribers, either directly or through resellers. AT&T has 90.1 million.

The end of the quarter

Just after the end of the quarter, Verizon closed its sale of 4 million phone lines in 14 states to Frontier Communications Corp. for $5.3 billion. The company has been selling off lines in outlying areas to focus on more densely populated areas in the Northeast, Florida, Texas and California.

Killian said that excluding the sold-off businesses, he expects Verizon to earn roughly $1.05 to $1.10 per share in the remainder of the year. Analysts were expecting about $1.06 per share.

The New York-based company has been laying off workers quickly in the shrinking traditional phone business. It offered a buyout to union workers in May, with a $50,000 one-time bonus per employee, improvements to pension payouts and other benefits. Verizon expects 11,000 to take advantage of it and said two-thirds of them had left the payroll as of early July.

The nation's second-biggest phone company said it lost the equivalent of 7 cents per share in the April-to-June period. That compares with net income of $1.48 billion, or 52 cents per share, in the same period last year.

The broadband side

On the broadband side, the company added 196,000 new FiOS Internet customers this quarter, compared with 185,000 in the previous quarter, bringing the total to 3.8 million. The company counts a slightly greater number of homes passed for FiOS broadband - 12.9 million - for a FiOS Internet penetration of 30 percent.

Verizon has been upgrading its network in some markets with fiber-to-the-home, through which it provides its FiOS TV, broadband and VoIP services. It severely curtailed its expansion, however. It's now focusing on completing the build-out in areas where it already has a franchise to sell cable TV services over fiber.

Growth opportunity

Though FiOS continues to constitute a growth opportunity, it represents one of the smaller slices of the company's business - about 16 percent. Verizon reported that 83 percent of its consolidated revenues come from wireless and global business customers.

Verizon did well in the highly competitive wireless business, attracting 665,000 customers under contract. That's fewer than in past years, but contract-signing customers have been drying up for all carriers this year, and Verizon bested chief rival AT&T Inc., which Thursday reported getting a net 496,000 contracts signed in the quarter. AT&T had help from the launch of a new iPhone model in the last few days of the period.

Verizon Wireless has been positioning phones using Google Inc.'s Android software as the alternative to the iPhone, and Killian said this is working well.

Verizon sold off areas with 2 million wireless subscribers to AT&T Inc. and Atlantic Tele-Network Inc. in the quarter to satisfy regulatory requirements for last year's acquisition of Alltel Corp. It's still the largest cell phone company in the U.S., with 92.1 million subscribers, either directly or through resellers. AT&T has 90.1 million.

The end of the quarter

Just after the end of the quarter, Verizon closed its sale of 4 million phone lines in 14 states to Frontier Communications Corp. for $5.3 billion. The company has been selling off lines in outlying areas to focus on more densely populated areas in the Northeast, Florida, Texas and California.

Killian said that excluding the sold-off businesses, he expects Verizon to earn roughly $1.05 to $1.10 per share in the remainder of the year. Analysts were expecting about $1.06 per share.

The New York-based company has been laying off workers quickly in the shrinking traditional phone business. It offered a buyout to union workers in May, with a $50,000 one-time bonus per employee, improvements to pension payouts and other benefits. Verizon expects 11,000 to take advantage of it and said two-thirds of them had left the payroll as of early July.

The nation's second-biggest phone company said it lost the equivalent of 7 cents per share in the April-to-June period. That compares with net income of $1.48 billion, or 52 cents per share, in the same period last year.