Verizon reported a net loss for the fourth quarter due to one-time pension, debt retirement and restructuring charges, but continued to see solid growth in both mobile and consumer wireline service revenues. The US operator posted a loss of USD 1.48 per share, double the loss of USD 0.71 a year earlier. Adjusted EPS, excluding the one-time items but including costs of 7 cents a share from Superstorm Sandy, totaled 38 cents, down from 52 cents a year ago. Revenues were up 5.7 percent year-on-year to pass USD 30 billion for the first time.
Over the full year, capex fell by about USD 70 million to USD 16.2 billion, including USD 135 million for storm-related work, while free cash flow rose by 13.1 percent to USD 15.3 billion. Net debt dropped to USD 52.0 billion, from USD 55.2 billion at the end of 2011.
At Verizon Wireless, quarterly revenues rose 9.5 percent to USD 20.0 billion, with service revenues up 8.5 percent to USD 16.4 billion. The EBITDA margin was down 80 basis points to 41.1 percent of service revenues, after a high number of subscriber additions in the quarter. Verizon gained a net 2.2 million retail connections in Q4, for a total 98.2 million customers at year-end, up 6.6 percent from a year earlier. Retail postpaid customers rose by 2.1 million in the quarter to a total 35.1 million, of which 58 percent now use smartphones.
Average revenue per retail postpaid customer account was up 6.6 percent from a year ago to USD 146.80, helped by the introduction of shared data plans for multiple devices per customer. The shared plans will be extended to businesses from 24 January.
At the wireline division, revenues fell 1.5 percent from a year earlier to USD 10.0 billion, as a 2.1 percent decline at Verizon Business offset 4.1 percent growth in the consumer segment. The latter was driven by growing adoption of Fios services, which helped drive consumer ARPU 9.5 percent higher to USD 105.63.
The Fios internet base grew by 144,000 subscribers in Q4 to a total 5.4 million, and Fios video subscribers rose by 134,000 to 4.7 million. The total broadband base was up 1.4 percent over 2012 to 8.8 million customers. Verizon said it plans to continue migrating copper areas to the fibre-based Fios services in order to reduce maintenance costs. After converting 223,000 lines in 2012, it targets another 300,000 in 2013.
