Latest news with #myPlan
Hindustan Times
03-05-2025
- Business
- Hindustan Times
Verizon lost nearly 290,000 customers in just 3 months — But why are so many leaving?
Verizon, the American telecommunications company, revealed its 2025 Q1 data last week and it showed a loss of 289,000 postpaid phone customers in a single quarter, The Street reported. The postpaid phone customers are on Verizon's myPlan plans and are not the same as those subscribed to prepaid plans. The postpaid customers are more important to the wireless carriers as they subscribe for longer periods with a carrier, carry phone payment plans, and are the most reliable and steady. Losing postpaid customers is a risky move, especially if it's about 300,000 customers we're talking about. On the other hand, AT&T reported that they've added 324,000 postpaid customers in Q1 of 2025. Similarly, T-Mobile has reportedly been adding more postpaid customers, which won't change in the coming years, as their prices are considerably affordable and don't bug the customers. The company seems to be aware that the price increases have not helped, as their CFO, Tony Skiadas, said 'Our consumer postpaid phone net losses… reflect the impact of recent pricing actions.' Verizon started the price hikes last year by raising prices on older plans like 5G Get More, 5G Play More, 5G Do More, and 5G Start unlimited plans. However, they followed that by only allowing full autopay discounts to come from bank accounts. Further on, they raised smartwatch plan prices and then put a fresh reduction on autopay discounts for older plans by the end of 2024. This year, they raised the price of insurance for myPlan customers with 5 lines or more. As per their Q1 data, customers are not too fond of these changes to their plans. One would also argue that their speeds are not up to the mark – compared to T-Mobile's network coverage and lightning speeds. On the other hand, Verizon has been gaining prepaid customers – adding 137,000 customers in this quarter itself.
Axios
02-05-2025
- Business
- Axios
Verizon offers multi-year price lock as homes get more connected
Today's families are managing more connected devices than ever to power work, learning, security and connection — often all at once. That's shifting how they prioritize their data plans. 📈 Key numbers: The average Verizon internet household now manages 18 connected devices and consumes 656 GB of data monthly, up 6% YoY, according to the latest Verizon Consumer Connections Report. 42-45% of U.S. internet households own at least one smart home device. 20% of U.S. internet households own a smart video doorbell. 16% own a smart thermostat. What this means: Connectivity has evolved from a nice-to-have to a must-have. 🔒 Verizon is offering an industry-first 3-year price lock guarantee on all myPlan (mobile) and myHome (home internet) network plans, available to both new and existing customers. Why it's important: The offer meets a growing consumer demand for financial stability, control and simplicity — especially as families weigh technology investments alongside everyday priorities. Here's what else: Verizon is also now offering a free phone to new and existing wireless customers on any myPlan when they trade in a device — regardless of its condition. Plus, get even more immediate savings when bundling home internet, taking $15 off the total monthly bill. The impact: Families can stay confidently connected — with steady rates on core services like calling, data and texting. Customers can also save over 40% on five of the most popular subscription services, Netflix & Max and Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+. All five for just $20 per month. Plus, free satellite messaging on qualifying devices. 🏡 Why now: With spring homebuying season underway, the busiest time for real estate, families making big moves may be rethinking how they're setting up their homes — and the tech that powers them. Verizon's 3-year price lock guarantee offers predictable, multi-year stability across connectivity costs. The takeaway: As families upgrade their homes and devices, Verizon's price lock guarantee offers something rare in tech: predictability. With stable rates, smart perks and guaranteed phone trade-ins, it's a connectivity plan that moves at the speed of modern life — without the surprise charges.
Yahoo
27-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Is Verizon Still a Defensive Dividend Stock After Soft Subscriber Growth?
The most closely watched metric for Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) during earnings season isn't the company's revenue or profits. Instead, it tends to be its postpaid phone subscriber numbers. Postpaid subscribers have wireless plans that are billed monthly, as opposed to prepaid subscribers, who pay for their services upfront. Prepaid subscribers generally are not as affluent, and the business has much more churn. Meanwhile, its consumer and business wireline businesses are in decline. Broadband is a growth business, but the focus still tends to be on its core postpaid wireless business, as this is the gateway to its other offerings. Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue » On the postpaid wireless front, the company disappointed. After adding 568,000 wireless postpaid phone net additions in Q4 2024, it lost 289,000 in Q1 2025. The first quarter tends to see churn; in Q1, it lost 114,000 postpaid phone subscribers last year. However, the decline was worse than the loss of 197,000 subscribers that analysts were expecting. Much of this appears to stem from price hikes, as the company's total wireless service revenue rose 2.7% to $20.8 billion despite the churn in customers. However, the company said that it saw mid-single-digit consumer postpaid phone gross additions in March and that its performance thus far in April has been strong. It noted that its new three-year price lock and free phone guarantee were starting to resonate with customers. It also highlighted its new myPlan and myHome plans, which allow customers to customize their plans and add perks, such as discounted streaming services or unlimited cloud storage. myPlan is for mobile customers, while myHome is for broadband customers. Broadband continued to be an area of strength in Q1, with 339,000 net additions in the quarter. This included 45,000 Fios internet net additions and 308,000 fixed wireless additions. Overall, it said total broadband connections increased by 13.7% year over year to 12.8 million, with 4.8 million of those being fixed wireless access subscribers. It plans to deliver 650,000 incremental Fios passings this year while continuing to expand its C-band deployment. C-band is a wireless spectrum that Verizon is using to deliver its fixed mobile broadband solution and enhance its mobile wireless solution. C-band provides broadband internet service to areas that don't have traditional infrastructure. Overall, Verizon continued to deliver steady results. Its overall revenue rose by 1.5% to $33.5 billion, while its adjusted EPS increased 3.5% to $1.19. That was just ahead of the analyst consensus for adjusted EPS of $1.15 on revenue of $33.3 billion. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), meanwhile, rose 4.1% to $12.6 billion. Looking ahead, Verizon maintained its full-year 2025 guidance. It continues to expect wireless revenue growth to be between 2% and 2.8% and for adjusted EPS to increase by 0% to 3%. The company projects operating cash flow to be between $35 billion and $37 billion after spending about half of that on capital expenditures (capex) to result in free cash flow between $17.5 billion and $18.5 billion. One of the things that most attracts investors to Verizon is its dividend. It has a robust forward dividend yield of about 6.4%, which is a nice payout in this environment. The dividend remains well covered, with the company paying $2.85 billion in dividends in Q1 while it generated $3.63 billion in free cash flow. That's good for a nearly 1.3x coverage ratio. Over the past 12 months, it's generated free cash flow of $18.73 billion and paid out $11.03 billion in dividends, good for a 1.8 times coverage ratio. That gives the company plenty of room to continue to both invest in its business and increase its dividend moving forward. The company's balance sheet also remains in solid shape with a leverage ratio on unsecured debt (net unsecured debt/trailing-12-month adjusted EBITDA) of 2.3. With Verizon forecasting $17.5 billion to $18.5 billion in free cash flow this year, the company has a wide cushion to continue to increase its dividend, even if a weaker economic environment negatively impacts its results. While Verizon's recent price hike caused some elevated churn in the most recent quarter, postpaid wireless subscriber additions look like they have been back on track for the last couple of months. Meanwhile, its three-year price lock and phone upgrade plan looks like an attractive offering that can drive subscriber growth. At the same time, the company continues to do well by adding broadband customers. Its fixed wireless C-band offering allows it to target households in areas without fiber or cable broadband services. It is also a nice alternative option for customers who have cut the cord with cable but who are still beholden to their cable company's broadband options. Turning to valuation, Verizon trades at a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 9 based on 2025 earnings estimates, which is well below the nearly 13 times multiple of AT&T. With very similar overall growth metrics as AT&T, I think Verizon is the better buy and remains a solid, defensive dividend stock. I wouldn't get caught up in one quarter of weak postpaid subscriber growth, as the overall picture at Verizon remains solid. Before you buy stock in Verizon Communications, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Verizon Communications wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $591,533!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $652,319!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 859% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 158% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of April 21, 2025 Geoffrey Seiler has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Verizon Communications. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Is Verizon Still a Defensive Dividend Stock After Soft Subscriber Growth? was originally published by The Motley Fool Sign in to access your portfolio
Miami Herald
24-04-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
Verizon suffers major loss as customers switch gears
Verizon (VZ) ruffled a few feathers at the beginning of this year when it decided to continue down the path of hiking prices for its mobile services. Shortly after ringing in the new year, Verizon announced in January that it was raising the monthly prices of its myPlan and New Verizon Plan wireless accounts due to "rising operational costs." Don't miss the move: Subscribe to TheStreet's free daily newsletter By March, it increased the price of its Verizon Mobile Protect Multi-Device plan and Verizon Mobile Secure Multi-Device plan by $8, which applied to wireless customers with four to 20 lines. Related: Verizon announces generous offer, but customers should beware While these significant pricing changes took place, many Verizon customers took to social media to air their frustrations about higher prices, with some threatening to switch phone providers. Image source: Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images Amid these threats, Verizon recently revealed in its first-quarter earnings report for 2025 that while its wireless revenues increased by 2.7% year-over-year during the quarter, generating $20.8 billion, it faced a net loss of 289,000 total postpaid phone customers. In a note to investors, analysts at New Street Research said the loss in customers matches Verizon's "worst result on record." During an earnings call on April 22, Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg admitted that recent price increases contributed to the dip in customers during the quarter. Related: Verizon makes a desperate move to lure back fleeing customers "We did have a slow start on postpaid phone net adds, largely driven by elevated churn due to recent price ups and pressure from federal government accounts," said Vestberg. Despite this loss, Verizon Consumer Group CEO Sam Path emphasized during the call that the company does not regret recent price hikes. "We made a decision to price up certain cohorts in December and January, and they were the right trade-offs to make," said Path. "It helped us lock the revenue for the rest of the year, and it was the right thing to do." Vestberg also warned Verizon customers may soon see higher prices for mobile devices due to President Donald Trump's tariffs. Tariffs are taxes companies pay to import goods from overseas, and the additional cost is often filtered down to consumers through increased prices. "If we're going to see those type of increases on handsets that we've heard, we are not planning to absorb those," said Vestberg. "I mean, that needs to be passed onto the customers. That's the only way to do it because that's so much money." More Retail: AT&T quietly issues stern warning to customersSam's Club makes a big change to a beloved membership perkGameStop announces risky move amid store closures The warning comes after Verizon Chief Financial Officer Tony Skiadas flagged last month that the company is noticing year-over-year declines in the number of customers upgrading their phones. "Customers continue by choice to hang on to their phones for longer periods of time," said Skiadas during a Morgan Stanley conference last month. "The average upgrade cycle for us is up over 40 months. It's like 42 months right now. So the phones are made better. And from our standpoint, we'll continue to be disciplined in our approach to retention." In an effort to attract and retain customers in light of recent challenges, Verizon plans to pull several levers. "We are doubling down on our customer-first strategy with an increased focus on customer retention with the Verizon value guarantee, an industry-leading three-year price lock, free phone guarantee for everyone, and savings you cannot get elsewhere," said Path during the earnings call. Earlier this month, Verizon began offering a new three-year price lock guarantee to new and existing customers who have myPlan and myHome network plans. In addition, it has also started offering customers a free phone and home internet router when they trade in their devices. However, perks, discounts, taxes, and fees are excluded from this price-lock guarantee, which means that Verizon can still raise monthly bills by hiking fees or slashing discounts. Related: Veteran fund manager unveils eye-popping S&P 500 forecast The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
Time of India
23-04-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Verizon posts higher subscriber loss on price hikes, competition
Verizon Communications lost more wireless subscribers in the first quarter than Wall Street expected, as the U.S. telecom giant grappled with the fallout of recent price hikes and aggressive promotions from rivals. Shares of the company were down about 3 per cent in early trading. The company warned in March off-season promotions by AT&T and T-Mobile would result in "soft" subscriber growth, fueling fears about intensifying competition in an industry vying for a limited pool of new subscribers. "We had a pretty big price up in January, and the elasticity on that price up was higher than what we had anticipated," Sowmyanarayan Sampath, CEO of Verizon Consumer, told Reuters. That led to a higher churn, percentage of customers exiting a service, with Verizon reporting a loss of 289,000 monthly bill-paying wireless subscribers in the first quarter, compared with expectations for 166,400 losses, according to FactSet data. Verizon saw reductions in business wireless accounts due to the "new government and their efficiency work", CEO Hans Vestberg said in a post-earnings call. Only a small portion of Verizon's annual $18 billion capital expenditure is exposed to tariffs, mainly on imported wireless equipment, Vestberg said. The company introduced a three-year price guarantee in early April to lock in customers for its myPlan and myHome offerings. "March was very strong, especially the last two weeks and in April, we were running almost double-digit growth," Sampath said. It also reaffirmed its annual adjusted profit and free cash flow outlook, a sign it was confident in its business plans amid economic uncertainty. In the first quarter, total revenue grew 1.5 per cent to $33.5 billion, edging past analysts' estimates of $33.24 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG. Wireless service revenue grew 2.7 per cent to $20.8 billion, helped by the price hikes implemented by the company.
