In the first six months of the year, Verizon reduced capex to USD 7.4 billion, helping free cash flow nearly double to USD 7.8 billion. The operator forecast capex for the full year flat to lower versus USD 16.2 billion in 2011.
Verizon Wireless was again the growth driver in Q2, with service revenues up 7.3 percent to USD 15.8 billion. Data services grew 18.5 percent to USD 6.9 billion and now account for 43.6 percent of all service revenues. EBITDA improved 15.8 percent to USD 7.7 billion, giving a record service margin of 49.0 percent.
Verizon Wireless finished June with a total 94.154 million retail mobile subscribers, up by 1.178 million from three months earlier. Churn was down at 1.11 percent, and ARPU improved 3.4 percent from a year ago to USD 54.29.
At the wireline division, revenues fell 3.1 percent to USD 9.9 billion, as 1.7 percent growth in the mass markets segment was offset by a 10 percent drop in wholesale and 3.4 percent lower enterprise sales. EBITDA fell 6.0 percent to USD 2.3 billion. The EBITDA margin of 23.1 percent was up from 22.6 percent in Q1, and Verizon said it expects further sequential improvement in H2.
Sales growth of 2.5 percent in the consumer segment was driven by the Fios fibre services, which now account for 65 percent of consumer wireline revenue. With 70 percent of Fios customers on triple-play packages, Verizon's consumer ARPU passed USD 100 for the first time in Q2.
The addition of 134,000 new Fios broadband subscribers in the quarter offset a loss of 132,000 DSL customers, for a total broadband base of 8.78 million at end-June. Fios TV subscribers rose by 120,000 in the three months to a total 5.14 million. Residential retail voice customers fell by 199,000 to 12.222 million.
