Verizon Q2 meets expectations with $1.07 EPS and revenue of $30.5B down 2% YoY; wireless business sees overall growth of 1.2% to 114.5M users
Context & Ripple Effects
Two years ago Verizon reported Q2 revenue of $32.2B, and by the $34.2B Q4 2015 print the top line had peaked. This quarter's $30.5B — down 2% YoY — confirms the slide, yet the wireless base still grew 1.2% to 114.5M users.
That split is the story: Verizon is adding subscribers while collecting less per quarter, and it isn't alone — AT&T's wireless revenue fell 4.9% YoY even as it added 2.8M customers, pointing to sector-wide price compression rather than a Verizon-specific problem.
First-order effects
- Verizon clears its $1.07 EPS bar on a shrinking top line, meaning cost control and the 114.5M-user wireless base are absorbing the pricing pressure for now.
Second-order effects
- AT&T is caught in the same squeeze — falling wireless revenue alongside customer adds — which locks both carriers into promotional pricing that trades per-user revenue for base growth.
- The more-than-$1 billion dark-fiber deal with Google, with management saying more such deals are in the pipeline, gives Verizon a growth lever outside consumer wireless exactly when that segment's revenue stalls.
Third-order effects
- If sub-2% user growth keeps coexisting with declining revenue, US wireless hardens into a scale-and-infrastructure business where carriers monetize the network itself — fiber, wholesale capacity — instead of chasing subscriber additions.
The trend: US carrier revenue is decoupling from subscriber counts as price competition compresses per-user revenue even while wireless bases keep expanding.