By Will Feuer


Verizon Communications Inc. posted lower revenue for the recently ended quarter as it lost postpaid phone subscribers.

The company reported a first-quarter profit of $4.91 billion, or $1.17 a share, compared with $4.58 billion, or $1.09 a share, a year earlier. Stripping out one-time items, adjusted earnings came to $1.20 a share, topping Wall Street analysts' expectations by a penny.

Revenue fell 1.9%, to $32.9 billion, below the $33.57 billion expected by analysts, according to FactSet.

"Our operational and financial results reflect the steps that we have taken to improve our performance," Chief Executive Hans Vestberg said.

Verizon, the largest U.S. cellphone carrier in terms of subscribers, reported a net loss of 127,000 phone connections under postpaid billing plans during the first three months of the year. Wall Street analysts were expecting the company to lose 122,000 of such subscribers during the quarter.

Rival AT&T Inc. last week reported a gain of 424,000 U.S. postpaid phone subscribers in the first quarter. T-Mobile US Inc. is set to report first-quarter results on Thursday.

Verizon said it added 136,000 postpaid phone subscribers in its business segment, but its consumer segment, which struggled last year and recently got a new division chief, lost 263,000 such customers.

Shares fell 0.3% in premarket trading.


Write to Will Feuer at Will.Feuer@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

04-25-23 0728ET