Verizon, AT&T Q4 earnings on deck

The latest earnings season is off and running, as several telecom network equipment vendors already have reported fourth-quarter and year-end results, and major telcos AT&T and Verizon Communications are set to report earnings this week (Verizon tomorrow, AT&T on Wednesday). Capex reductions for this year are a forgone conclusion, AT&T announced thousands of job cuts at the end of 2008, and landline losses have continued at a rapid pace, and with these as the facts of life, the earnings calls don't give us much to look forward to. Both companies certainly will tout wireless as the strength that will carry their companies through the current economic crisis.

From the wireline side, the big news will revolve around whether or not these carriers are maintaining previous growth paces for their TV services. It also will be interesting to see what they say about broadband numbers overall and if they make much mention of their respective broadband voice strategies. The recession was late in coming to telecom, and some have observed that the telecom industry is faring better than other industries. We'll find out this week how astute those observations are.

For more:
- Marketwatch has this earnings forecast

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