Is the tel-economic freak out over already? While 2007 ended with uncertain financial outlooks by carriers, 2008 has started quite well for the two biggest U.S. telcos. Last week, AT&T reported a 22 percent increase in profit for the first quarter of 2008, and today, Verizon Communications reported a 9.8 percent increase in profit for the quarter. Verizon said net income totaled $1.64 billion, with revenue rising about 5.5 percent. Both big carriers credited wireless as the engine that drove them to increased profit, but in both cases, broadband Internet and TV services growth did their part as well. Verizon added 263,000 FiOS TV customers and about 262,000 FiOS broadband Internet customers. It now serves about 1.2 million TV customers.
Meanwhile, the residential landline business only continues to further fade. Verizon reported an 11 percent decline in residential landlines and a total landline decline of 8.2 percent. Wireline revenue dropped about 1.4 percent. While AT&T's and Verizon's first-quarter earnings reports can allow us to breathe a sigh of relief for now, industry watchers will remain on the lookout for the first signs of any slow-down.
For more:
- see this story at The Wall Street Journal
- and this blog post at ZDNet.com
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