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The call conveyed clear operational momentum and tangible financial improvement (revenue growth, positive postpaid phone net adds for the first time in 13 years, EBITDA and EPS expansion, churn improvement, lower acquisition/retention costs, raised EPS guidance and reaffirmed free cash flow guidance). These positives were balanced against identifiable near-term headwinds including the January network outage (≈80 bps hit to wireless service revenue), promotional amortization and pricing lapping (~180 bps), acquisition-related higher depreciation/interest, severance/integration costs (~$1.1B) and a temporary dip in wireless service revenue (down ~1%). Overall, management framed these as transitional and addressable through their transformation agenda, and the quantity and magnitude of the favorable operating and financial results materially outweigh the lowlights.
Verizon raised its 2026 adjusted EPS growth outlook to 5%–6% (from 4%–5%), now expects postpaid phone net adds to land in the upper half of its prior $750k–$1.0M guidance range, and reaffirmed mobility & broadband service revenue growth of 2%–3% with Q1 the low point; management also reiterated free cash flow growth of ~7%+ (full‑year FCF target $21.5B+), CapEx of $16.0B–$16.5B, an OpEx savings goal of $5.0B in 2026 and at least $1.0B of Frontier run‑rate operating synergies by 2028, while targeting net unsecured leverage of 2.0–2.25x in 2027 (Q1 leverage ~2.6x) with plans to repay substantially all Frontier debt by year‑end and continue shareholder returns (Q1 buybacks $2.5B, plan of at least $3B for the year and a $0.07 annualized dividend increase).
Total revenues grew 2.9% to $34.4 billion in Q1 2026; mobility and broadband service revenue grew 1.6% year-over-year to $22.9 billion, and management reaffirmed full-year mobility & broadband service revenue guidance of 2%–3% with Q1 as the low point.
Recorded 55,000 postpaid phone net adds in Q1 (positive Q1 postpaid phone net adds for the first time in 13 years), a year-over-year improvement of ~340,000; management expects full-year postpaid phone net adds in the upper half of the $750,000–$1,000,000 range.
Delivered 341,000 broadband net adds (214,000 fixed wireless access, 127,000 fiber); broadband subscribers reached ~16.8 million and Verizon remains on track to exceed 32 million fiber passings by year-end.
Consumer postpaid phone churn improved to 0.90% for the quarter (down 5 bps sequentially) and improved further in March to below 85 bps; company reported record customer satisfaction for consumer customer service.
Cost of acquisition and retention in March declined by approximately 35% versus the end of Q4, reflecting more efficient, micro-segmented go-to-market execution and reduced reliance on expensive promotions.
Consolidated adjusted EBITDA rose 6.7% year-over-year to $13.4 billion, with adjusted EBITDA margin expanding 140 basis points to 38.9% (management called this its highest-ever reported adjusted EBITDA).
Adjusted EPS was $1.28, up 7.6% year-over-year (best adjusted EPS growth in over four years); free cash flow was approximately $3.8 billion, up 4% year-over-year, and full-year free cash flow guidance reaffirmed at ~$21.5 billion or more (guidance of ~7%+ growth).
Launched a company-wide transformation with 10 major workstreams (AI-first, customer friction reduction, product simplification); management expects the AI tech stack to be substantially built by July and believes AI is already driving measurable improvements (e.g., customer SAT improvements).
Frontier acquisition closed Jan 20; integration is on track with a target of more than $1 billion of run-rate operating cost synergies by 2028 and management pursuing an OpEx savings target of $5 billion for 2026.
Returned significant capital to shareholders: Q1 dividend increased by $0.07 (2.5%), $2.5 billion of share repurchases completed in Q1, and $5.4 billion of capital returned in the quarter; management is paying down Frontier debt and targets net unsecured leverage of 2.0–2.25x by 2027.
Good morning, and welcome to Verizon's First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Today's conference is being recorded. If you have any objections, you may disconnect at this time. I would now like to turn the call over to Colleen Ostrowski, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations.
Thanks, Brad. Good morning, and welcome to our first quarter 2026 earnings call. I'm Colleen Ostrowski and on the call with me this morning are our Chief Executive Officer, Dan Schulman; and Tony Skiadas, our CFO. Before we begin, I'd like to point you to our safe harbor statement, which can be found in the earnings presentation and on our Investor Relations website. Our comments this morning may include forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks and uncertainties. Factors that may affect future results are discussed in our SEC filings. This presentation also contains non-GAAP financial measures, and you can find reconciliations of these measures in the materials on our website. Finally, as a reminder, the results of Frontier Communications are included in our financial and operating results beginning on January 20, 2026, the date we closed the Frontier acquisition.
With that, I'll turn it over to Dan.
Thank you, Colleen, and good morning, everyone. When I joined Verizon, I have a simple but ambitious goal. I wanted Verizon to reclaim its market leadership. Obviously, there are a lot of things we need to do, right, to make that happen. We need to delight our customers and put them at the center of everything we do. We need to drive consistent and fiscally re...
