Verizon reports 4Q06 and FY2006 results

Verizon has reported mixed results in 4Q06. It earned $1bn, down 40%, in 4Q06, on revenues of $22.6bn, +26%. For the year, revenues were $88.1bn, up 27%. Revenues were boosted by the integration of MCI long-distance business in 2006, and by strong new mobile subscriptions. Pro-forma results were up 3.3% only and profits were down 16%. Verizon Wireless reported $10.1bn in revenues (up 16%) in the quarter and $38bn (+18%) for the year. ARPU continues to rise to $50.8, one of the highest in the US, while churn is one of the lowest with 1.1% on average. Verizon Wireless has 59.1m mobile subscribers. Verizon Telecom recorded mixed performance with revenues at about $7bn. It lost 366k access lines in the quarter, gained 508k new broadband customers and continues to serve 45m access lines (-7.5%), it missed penetration target for its FTTH roll out but added 1,8m broadband users in the year, while its FiOS deployments passed 6m households and registered 207k FiOS TV customers and 687k FTTH service users. Business services amounted to $5.3bn, up 2%. Verizon plans to invest some $17.5bn in 2007 capex; $11bn in wireline (mainly for fibre deployments) and $6.7bn in mobile (mainly in broadband mobile).