Verizon raises 2026 guidance for third straight quarter after 406,000 postpaid phone adds

Verizon Communications raised its full-year 2026 guidance for the third consecutive quarter on 26 October 2026, after adding 406,000 postpaid phone customers, net, in the third quarter, up from 44,000 a year earlier, according to its results release. The company called it its best third quarter for that measure in five years. It also added 137,000 postpaid accounts, net, which it described as its best result in more than a decade. Mobility and broadband service revenue rose 2.9% year on year in the quarter to about $23.5bn; Verizon now expects about 4.0% growth in the fourth quarter and full-year growth in the upper half of its 2.5%-3.0% range.

Total operating revenue rose 1.5% year on year to $34.31bn: service revenues and other increased 3.5% to $29.20bn, while wireless equipment revenues fell 9.0% to $5.12bn. Verizon mainly attributes the equipment decline to much lower upgrade volumes, as customers hold on to phones for longer, and to its decision to spend less on device subsidies; the postpaid upgrade rate was 2.6%, against 3.3% a year earlier. Consolidated adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP measure, rose 8.0% to $13.80bn, which the company said is the highest it has reported, and its margin widened to 40.2% from 37.8%. Promotional cost of acquisition fell 41% year on year, the company said.

Net income rose 5.2% to $5.32bn, and earnings per share were $1.25, up 6.8% from $1.17 a year earlier. Adjusted EPS, a non-GAAP measure that leaves out the amortization of intangibles from acquisitions and charges tied to acquisitions and integration, was $1.31, against $1.21 a year earlier. Non-GAAP free cash flow, operating cash flow minus capital expenditures, was $7.80bn in the quarter and $18.01bn for the first nine months, up 14.3%. Verizon returned $12.8bn to shareholders over the nine months, including $8.8bn of dividends and $4.0bn of share repurchases, and still expects buybacks of up to $4.5bn for 2026. The release was furnished to the SEC under Item 2.02 of a Form 8-K accepted on 26 October 2026.

Separately, Verizon said it had signed an agreement with Amazon Web Services valued at more than $2.0bn. According to the release, the agreement sets up a commercial framework to scale distributed compute for agentic and generative AI workloads; it gives no duration or timing for revenue. Verizon kept its 2026 capital expenditure forecast at $16.0bn-$16.5bn, which it says includes success-based investments for AI Connect. Capital expenditures were $11.93bn in the first nine months, against $12.26bn a year earlier.