NEW YORK (Reuters) – Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N) posted a decline in quarterly revenue after a July rural phone line sale and its profit fell due to a large pension-related settlement.
Verizon said its third-quarter profit fell to $881 million, or 31 cents per share from $1.18 billion, or 41 cents a share in the same quarter a year earlier. It said that the latest quarter included 25 cents per share in non-operational charges included a pension related settlement.
Revenue fell to $26.48 billion from $27.27 billion in the year-ago quarter, before its sale this summer of wireline assets to Frontier Communications (FTR.N), slightly ahead of the average analyst estimate for $26.35 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S pay day loans.
It said Verizon Wireless, its venture with Vodafone Group Plc (VOD.L), added 584,000 monthly bill-paying customers in the quarter compared with the average expectation for 580,000 from six analysts contacted by Reuters.
In comparison, its biggest rival AT&T Inc (T.N) reported postpaid net additions of 745,000 the day before, boosted by Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) iPhone [ID:nN21128876].
Verizon Wireless, the biggest U.S. mobile operator, is depending for customer growth on cellphones based on Google Inc's (GOOG.O) Android.
(Reporting by Sinead Carew; editing by Derek Caney)
