Oct 26, 2026 earnings call — Verizon raises guidance; AI Connect and high-speed FWA
Verizon raised its full-year postpaid phone net adds outlook to 1.1 million-1.2 million.
Revenue $34.3B (est $34.8B) · EPS $1.31 (est $1.27)
Key quotes
"Our postpaid phone net additions were up 820% year-over-year to 406,000, our strongest Q3 in five years."
"We now have signed contracts for approximately $4 billion, and based on the demand we are seeing, we expect both our fiber and edge computing to add meaningfully to our future growth."
"Over the medium term, it is our goal to substantially increase the number of premises we can serve with 1 gig of speed by an incremental 10 million to 15 million through FWA, and that is over and above our 40 million-50 million fiber build."
Analyst Q&A 5
postpaid customer growth and pricing
Q (John Hodulik · UBS): The analyst asked about pricing and volumes in the postpaid market. He wanted to know if strong volume momentum can continue into 2027 and what gives Verizon pricing power.
A: They said postpaid net adds were up strongly and were high quality, with no free lines and lower acquisition costs. Postpaid churn and retention costs fell, and they said their value proposition (Simplicity, Verizon One, loyalty plan) is resonating, so there may be room to raise prices if they keep adding value.
AI Connect deals and margins
Q (Michael Ng · Goldman Sachs): The analyst asked for more detail on Verizon AI Connect: the pipeline, hyperscale and neocloud deals for distributed compute and edge, and details like deal lengths and expected cash margins.
A: They said AI Connect is a real, growing business with very strong demand across dark fiber, lit fiber, and edge compute. They already have approximately $4 billion of signed deals, expect hundreds of millions of revenues from edge locations, said these deals carry attractive margins, and that impacts will begin in 2027 with modest success-based CapEx then.
"As I mentioned, we already have approximately $4 billion of signed deals, and we're just getting started on that." — Dan Schulman (CEO)
satellite competition and partnerships
Q (Michael Rollins · Citi): The analyst asked how a possible LEO/Starlink entry would affect the mobile business and whether Verizon would form alliances or offer an MVNO to LEO constellations like Starlink.
A: They said they assume SpaceX will execute and that Starlink needs a terrestrial network to address large markets; building that would take time and massive investment. They estimated it would take a minimum of four to six years to build out a terrestrial network, cost in the hundreds of billions, and said there are no back doors to their MVNO agreements and they see no benefit to extending MVNO deals to satellite providers.
"it's going to take a minimum of four to six years to fully build that out." — Dan Schulman (CEO)
fixed wireless and mmWave rollout
Q (Sean Diffley · Morgan Stanley): The analyst asked where fixed wireless fits over the next three to five years, about speed standard issues, a 1-gig FWA product in metros, and whether Verizon has enough spectrum to scale.
A: They said broadband and convergence are priorities and they added 314,000 FWA and fiber net adds, over 1 million year-to-date, with 17.4 million broadband subs. They described a millimeter wave solution to deliver one gig or more, plan to roll it out this quarter into 2027 and beyond, target 50 million-65 million premises passed with gig speeds, and said mmWave is more cost efficient than fiber and materially improves their spectrum position.
"There is strong consumer demand, really pleased with the uptake of Verizon One and increasing demand for higher download speeds." — Dan Schulman (CEO)
agentic AI impact on ARPU
Q (Greg Williams · TD Cowen): The analyst asked about agentic AI and its potential impacts on ARPU.
A: They said we are entering the age of agents and AI, with AGI maybe one to three years away, and that AI will open new TAMs and improve productivity and cost structure. They noted AI is already used to improve customer satisfaction, AI Connect has nearly $4 billion of signed contracts in six months, they expect massive growth in agents and data traffic, and they said the network will become a scarce asset that they will price accordingly.
"There is going to be an explosion in data traffic, and our network will become a scarce and crucial asset, and we will price it as such." — Dan Schulman (CEO)