Verizon added 173,000 postpaid phone customers and 287,000 postpaid smartphone customers in the second quarter, even as it lost 81,000 consumer Fios TV subscribers, the company reported Friday. But it saw a net gain of 10,000 consumer Fios broadband subscribers, even though it had to suspend many in-home installations because of pandemic restrictions.
The Keep Americans Connected Pledge — waiving late fees and promising not to cut off service for customers who couldn’t pay during the pandemic — ended on June 30th, but Verizon CFO Matt Ellis said a third of customers were current on their bills at the end of June, and 80 percent of its wireless customers have been making at least some payments.
“We’re encouraged by what we’ve seen, and we expect the vast majority to be Verizon customers a year from now,” Ellis said. Many of the customers have been enrolled in payment plans to let them keep paying their bills over time now that the pledge has concluded, he added.
Verizon saw a year-over-year decline in revenue for the quarter, from $32.1 billion to $30.4 billion, which it said took a hit because of a decrease in device sales. Sixty percent of its retail locations were reopened open by the end of the second quarter and most will be reopened by the end of this month, the company said.
Net income was up for the quarter, from $3.9 billion a year ago to $4.7 billion in the current quarter. Its media business, which includes TechCrunch and HuffPost, saw a 24.5 percent dip in revenue to $1.4 billion, which the company said was primarily related to impacts from COVID-19.
