Verizon (NYSE: VZ) announced positive financial results in its 4Q24 earnings call on Friday, with total revenues and Adjusted EBITDA growing at low single-digit year-over-year rates. Wireless service revenue reached $79 billion, reflecting a three percent increase YoY, while Adjusted EBITDA amounted to $49 billion, marking a two percent rise YoY. The company reported a free cash flow of $20 billion, up six percent YoY.
Verizon’s capital expenditures in its wireless and wireline networks totaled $17.1 billion, a nine percent decrease from the $18.8 billion spent in 2023. Approximately 55 percent of the company’s total capex was allocated to the wireless network, according to Inside Towers Intelligence.
Verizon is advancing its midband C-band spectrum buildout in Tier 2/3 and rural markets, currently covering over 70 percent of the population with 5G Ultra-Wideband. The company aims to achieve 80-90 percent coverage by the end of 2025. Verizon reported 146 million retail postpaid and prepaid wireless connections at the end of 2024, up one percent YoY.
The broadband segment of Verizon’s business includes both fixed wireless access (FWA) and wireline broadband services, encompassing fiber-based FiOS and legacy copper-based DSL. Together, these offerings constitute a subscriber base of 12.3 million.
By the end of 2024, FWA consumer and business subscribers generated $2.1 billion in service revenue. Verizon anticipates reaching its target of 8-9 million FWA subscribers by 2028 and notes an increasing interest in FWA among business customers. Additionally, the company is launching a variant of FWA tailored for multi-dwelling units such as apartments and condominiums.
The expansion of Verizon’s FiOS footprint continued with 464,000 new premises passed in 2024, and plans to add another 650,000 premises in 2025, systematically replacing its legacy copper-based DSL connections. Within its established Mid-Atlantic and New England markets, Verizon’s in-region fiber network currently passes over 15 million homes and businesses.
At the end of 2024, the company reported 7.5 million consumer and business FiOS Internet connections. Verizon ultimately intends to pass 100 million premises nationwide through its in-region network and out-of-region partnerships and acquisitions, including Frontier Communications, as Inside Towers reported.
In a new initiative within its Business Group, Verizon introduced AI Connect, a suite of solutions and services designed to support businesses in deploying and managing AI workloads at scale. AI Connect leverages Verizon’s network capabilities, including 5G wireless connections, local and long-haul fiber-optic connectivity, and edge compute environments that provide space, power, cooling, and security. Verizon says that it is already seeing increasing demand for its AI Connect offerings, with an order funnel of over $1 billion from leveraging its existing infrastructure.
For 2025, Verizon’s guidance includes a projected total wireless service revenue growth of 2.0-2.8 percent, an increase in Adjusted EBITDA by 2.0-3.5 percent, and total capital expenditures in the range of $17.5-18.5 billion.
By John Celentano, Inside Towers Business Editor
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