Despite limited installs in customers' homes due to the coronavirus pandemic, Verizon added 10,000 residential Fios broadband subscribers in Q2. By contrast, Verizon added 59,000 Fios broadband connections in the first quarter.
In April, Verizon was able to somewhat mitigate the impact of not being able to enter customers' homes with its "Fios in a box," which enables customers to self-install their services.
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Using a solution from TechSee, Fios in a box allows a service technician that is working outside of a subscriber's home to determine whether the fiber can be connected without needing to enter the house. If that's the case, the service tech rigs the cable from the nearest pole using crushable fiber that can be fed through a customer's window or door.
Verizon CFO Matt Ellis said on Friday morning's earnings call that the company's technicians started to enter customers' homes again for installs at the start of last month, which could lead to an uptick in Fios residential broadband subscribers going forward
Due to Covid-19, Verizon's second quarter earnings were marred by lower consumer wireless service revenue, which was down 2.7% from a year ago, and a 24.5% drop in revenues for Verizon Media.
Along with lower device sales, Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg and Ellis said those factors were the primarily culprits for second quarter earnings being impacted by 14 cents during the coronavirus pandemic.
Verizon posted a year-over-year decline in revenue from $32.1 billion to $30.4 billion in the second quarter. Verizon's net income was up in the second quarter from $3.9 billion a year ago to $4.7 billion.
When adjusted and excluding special items, earnings per share was $1.18—compared to $1.23 the year prior—putting Verizon ahead of analysts' expectations of $1.15 per share. Analysts had pegged Verizon's revenue for the quarter to be $29.93 billion.
Verizon stuck with its previous guidance of adjusted per share results to be in the range of minus 2% to an increase of 2% for 2020. Capital spending is expected to be in the range of $17.5 billion to $18.5 billion.
"We are in unprecedented times with multiple crises and businesses that we need to run at the same time," Vestberg said on the earnings call. "I can only say to all of you, I'm extremely proud of how Verizon and our employees have responded to all of it."