FiOS Leads Verizon to Q1 Gains

NEW YORK - Gains in FiOS subscribers helped Verizon Communications boost revenue by nearly 5 percent in the first quarter compared with a year earlier, as the telecom added 98,000 broadband customers and 57,000 for FiOS video. Verizon has 5.3 million FiOS TV and 6.2 million FiOS broadband subscribers.

Verizon Wireline Highlights

• Wireline consumer revenue growth remained strong. Verizon’s wireline segment reported continued strong results for consumer services, where year-over-year quarterly revenues now have grown by more than 4 percent for seven consecutive quarters.


• Representing 74 percent of total consumer revenues, FiOS consumer revenues grew 14.6 percent year over year, and total FiOS revenues grew 15.5 percent over the same periods. For the first time, total quarterly FiOS revenues surpassed $3 billion in first-quarter 2014.


• In first-quarter 2014, Verizon added 98,000 net new FiOS Internet connections and 57,000 net new FiOS Video connections. Verizon had totals of 6.2 million FiOS Internet and 5.3 million FiOS Video connections at the end of the first quarter, representing year-over-year increases of 9.9 percent and 8.7 percent, respectively.


• FiOS Internet penetration (subscribers as a percentage of potential subscribers) was 39.7 percent at the end of first-quarter 2014, compared with 38.2 percent at the end of first-quarter 2013. In the same periods, FiOS video penetration was 35 percent, compared with 34.1 percent. The FiOS network passed 18.9 million premises by the end of first-quarter 2014.


• By the end of first-quarter 2014, 51 percent of consumer FiOS Internet customers subscribed to FiOS Quantum, which provides speeds ranging from 50 to 500 Mbps, up from 46 percent at year-end 2013.

Fios Offsets DSL Losses
Broadband connections totaled more than 9.0 million at the end of first-quarter 2014, a 1.5 percent year-over-year increase. Net broadband connections increased by 16,000 in first-quarter 2014, as FiOS Internet net additions more than offset declines in DSL-based high speed Internet connections.

Verizon has been replacing high-maintenance portions of its residential copper network with fiber optics to provide enhanced services and to reduce ongoing repair costs. In first-quarter 2014, Verizon migrated an additional 78,000 customers from copper.