2017.10.2002:36:00UTC+00Verizon Quarterly Revenue Beats Estimates on Subscriber Gains

Verizon Communications Inc.'s quarterly revenue surpassed analyst estimates and the firm added more phone subscribers than anticipated, driving down shares of the top U.S. wireless carrier up in mid-morning trading.

Verizon has struggled to compete against smaller competitors such as T-Mobile US Inc. and Sprint Corp in a mature market for wireless service.

Unlike its competitor AT&T Inc., which plans to diversify its revenues by acquiring Time Warner Inc., Verizon maintains it does not require a large content acquisition. CFO Matthew Ellis said that through licensing content, the company can have access to content that the carrier wants to distribute to their customer base.

He added that Verizon was still working on a deal for content rights, but did not give any further details.

According to the company, it added 274, 000 monthly phone subscribers. Meanwhile, defections for all customers paying a monthly bill was 0.97 percent. Analysts had expected subscriber gains of 185, 000 and churn of 1.05 percent.

The company also reported it lost 18, 000 video subscribers in the third quarter, citing a shift from traditional pay-TV packages to cheaper streaming services.

Net income came in at $3.62 billion or 89 cents per share in the third quarter ended September 30, unchanged from the year prior. Total revenue increased to $31.72 billion from $30.94 billion a year prior. Earnings, excluding one time items clocked in at 98 cents.