Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ, XETRA:BAC) said on Monday it is in advanced discussions with hyperscalers, cloud providers, and large enterprises to deploy its fiber and 5G assets for artificial intelligence infrastructure, a revenue opportunity the telecom giant described as potentially worth multiple billions of dollars, with further details expected in three to six months.
The announcement came as Verizon reported first-quarter revenue of $34.4 billion, up 2.9% year-over-year but below analyst estimates of $34.82 billion.
Despite the revenue miss, the company posted adjusted earnings per share of $1.28, topping estimates of $1.21 and representing a 7.6% increase from the prior year period.
Verizon raised its full-year adjusted EPS guidance to a range of $4.95 to $4.99, above the consensus estimate of $4.91, implying year-over-year growth of 5% to 6%.
The results marked the first full quarter under new CEO Dan Schulman, who oversaw a period of strengthening customer additions. The company posted 55,000 postpaid phone net additions in the quarter, its first positive first quarter in that metric since 2013, while core prepaid net adds reached 115,000.
Broadband momentum continued, with total broadband net additions of 341,000, including 214,000 fixed wireless access net adds and 127,000 fiber broadband net adds. Combined fixed wireless access and fiber broadband connections stood at approximately 16.8 million.
Adjusted EBITDA rose 6.7% year-over-year to $13.4 billion, while net income came in at $5.1 billion, up 3.3%. Cash flow from operating activities increased 2.6% to $8 billion, and free cash flow reached $3.8 billion, up 4%.
For the full year, Verizon guided for total retail postpaid phone net adds in the top half of its 750,000 to 1.0 million range, cash flow from operations of $37.5 billion to $38 billion, capital expenditure of $16 billion to $16.5 billion, and free cash flow of $21.5 billion or more, reflecting growth of approximately 7% or more from 2025.
Shares rose approximately 3% following the results.