Verizon Cuts Promos, Lifts Guidance

Verizon just posted its strongest consumer quarter in five years, touting 184,000 new postpaid phone customers and raising its full-year outlook—yet the big headline hides a twist. Overall revenue actually slipped as equipment sales plunged by over $1.2 billion, with device upgrades slowing and fewer subsidies on the table. Verizon claims its “customer-first” model, focusing on simple plans and bundled broadband, will deliver stickier growth and lower churn. But with net income down nearly 23% (thanks to severance and restructuring costs), the market is watching closely to see if this lower-promo strategy can hold up without tempting customers to switch for better deals elsewhere.

Comcast is making a massive bet on mobile, notching a record 448,000 wireless line adds, even as its core broadband business lost 167,000 subscribers and connectivity revenue slipped. The company’s answer: a split that separates its booming media arm (with Peacock hitting its first profit) from the broadband and mobile unit. But here’s the catch—much of the mobile growth was driven by free line promotions, and the real test will be whether customers stick around and pay full price as those deals expire. Meanwhile, Comcast’s wholesale deal with Verizon sits at the heart of a brewing profit tug-of-war: as cable’s mobile momentum grows, both sides have plenty at stake.

AT&T, meanwhile, is retooling its network for the AI era, boasting an expanding fiber footprint and a focus on upstream capacity. If its “AWS Interconnect – last mile” experiment pays off, AT&T could be first to cash in on enterprise-grade connectivity for AI. But the payoff may be years away—until then, all eyes are on fiber growth and whether rising service revenues offset the heavy investment.

Based on reporting from RCR Wireless News, Trefis, and company earnings calls.

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