• Verizon adds highest number of postpaid mobile subs in a quarter since 2019
• Operator saw revenue grow to $138.2bn in 2026 boosted by strong Q4
• But despite acquisition of Frontier, its capex budget is set to shrink year on year by up to $1bn

Verizon will go into 2026 in a positive mood after posting fourth-quarter financial results that exceeded analyst expectations, including its highest quarterly mobility and broadband volumes since 2019.

But its capex plans for the current year might come as a slight surprise to the vendor community as, despite its acquisition of Frontier Communications, it is shrinking its overall capital outlay. (More on this later). 

Verizon saw its wireless business generate $21bn in Q4, up 1.1% year on year, while its wireless equipment arm jumped 9.1% to $8.2bn. 

But it is the subscriber additions that may bring the most positivity, with the US telco adding 372,000 broadband subscribers in the quarter, alongside 319,000 fixed wireless access customers, and around 616,000 additional postpaid mobile subscribers, its highest in a single quarter since 2019.

That positivity was reflected in the operator’s forward-looking statements, in which it outlined plans to grow retail postpaid phone net additions of between 750,000 to 1 million in 2026, while it said its mobile and broadband service revenue will grow by between 2% and 3% to take the full year total to around $93bn.

It comes after a year of major change at Verizon, in which the telco unexpectedly replaced CEO Hans Vestberg with former PayPal CEO Dan Schulman in October. Schulman then overhauled his tech team and revealed his plan to get Verizon to “regain its leadership” across mobility and broadband.

Overall, Verizon posted operating revenue of $138.2bn in 2025, up from $134.8bn in 2024, with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of $50bn. Verizon ended the financial year with $158bn of total debt, up from $144bn at the end of 2024.

“We are exiting 2025 with strong momentum, delivered by a team that is intensely focused on winning through healthy volumes and fiscally responsible growth,” said Schulman.

“Verizon is at a critical inflection point. Our number one priority is to invest wisely and strategically into our business, so we maintain our network excellence and fully delight our customers. Our 2026 guidance reflects the beginning of our turnaround, and is a step function change from our past five-year historical average.”

The telco recently closed its acquisition of Frontier Communications, which will scale its fibre footprint to more than 30 million homes and businesses. Since closing the Frontier acquisition, Verizon has over 16.3 million fixed wireless access and fibre broadband connections

Despite the acquisition, and plans to pass an extra 2 million premises with fibre lines this year, Verizon said it has allocated a capital expenditure (capex) budget of $16bn to $16.5bn for 2026, less than the $17bn capex spend it reported for the full year 2025. 

That news begs the question of which part of its over capex spend is likely to take the biggest hit this year.

- James Pearce, Editor, TelecomTV