3Q 2009 Quarterly Earnings Report - October 26, 2009

[riffjim4069]

Would anyone like to speculate on this quarters net subscriber additions? Offhand, I am going with 290-320K. We shall see...

"John Killian, EVP and CFO, for a discussion of our Second Quarter Earnings results. Webcast will be held on October 26, 2009 at 8:30 AM ET. Event materials will be available prior to the webcast."

Verizon | Investor Relations

 

[Weezknight]

Would anyone like to speculate on this quarters net subscriber additions? Offhand, I am going with 290-320K. We shall see...

"John Killian, EVP and CFO, for a discussion of our Second Quarter Earnings results. Webcast will be held on October 26, 2009 at 8:30 AM ET. Event materials will be available prior to the webcast."

Verizon | Investor Relations

I don't know about predicting an actual number, but I can say that since they rolled out FiOS in my area on August 1, there have been a steady stream of Verizon trucks in the neighborhood everyday. I'm a happy customer now, and all of my neighbors are, as well, so I would definitely expect a good sub bump.

 

[riffjim4069]

From what hear, Verizon is still signing up new customers as quckly as they can lay fiber and sign cable franchise agreements. Of course, I know there are a lot of frustrated potential subscribers who cannot get FiOS even though they have the cable franchise in place...Verizon just hasn't had the resources (people and money) to get to 'em.

 

[JPL]

Well, not as high as anyone predicted - "only" 191,000 for this past quarter. They're attributing it to cable being more aggressive.

 

[riffjim4069]

Verizon added 191,000 net FiOS TV customers: 2.7 million total subscribers

Verizon added 198,000 net new FiOS Internet customers. The company served 3.3 million FiOS Internet customers by the end of the quarter, a 49.2 percent year-over-year increase.

FiOS Internet penetration (customers as a percentage of potential customers) increased to 28.5 percent by the end of the third quarter, with the product available for sale to 11.5 million premises. This compares with a 24.2 percent penetration at the end of the third quarter 2008.

Verizon also added 191,000 net new FiOS TV customers. The company served 2.7 million FiOS TV customers by the end of the quarter, a 67.7 percent year-over-year increase.

FiOS TV penetration increased to 24.9 percent by the end of the third quarter, with the product available for sale to 10.9 million premises. This compares with a 19.7 percent penetration at the end of the third quarter 2008.

Verizon | Verizon Wireless and FiOS Growth Fuels Continued Strong Cash Flow at Verizon in 3Q

 

[riffjim4069]

2007
1st Quarter 2007 added 141K for a total of 348k subscribers
2nd Quarter 2007 added 167k for a total of 515k subscribers
3rd Quarter 2007 added 202k for a total of 717k subscribers
4th Quarter 2007 added 226k for a total of 943K subscribers

2008
1st Quarter added 263k for a total of 1,206,000 subscribers
2nd Quarter added 176k for a total of 1,382,000 subscribers
3rd Quarter added 233k for a total of 1,615,000 subscribers
4th Quarter added 303k for a total of 1,918,000 subscribers

2009
1st Quarter added 299k for a total of 2,217,000 subscribers
2nd Quarter added 300k for a total of 2,517,000 subscribers
3rd Quarter added 191k for a total of 2,708,000 subscribers

 

[riffjim4069]

Well, not as high as anyone predicted - "only" 191,000 for this past quarter. They're attributing it to cable being more aggressive.

I'm sure this is partially correct, but they have a lot more areas to build-out. For instance, Verizon (Fios TV) has been in my former County in Virginia for the past 3-years, yet the service is only available to 10% of residence. The next milestone in the franchise agreement is service to 50% of residence at the 7-year mark and 80% of residence at the 10-year mark. Of course, residence eligible for service must also meet a population density requirement. Oh well, at least the competition is bringing about better pricing and incentives from Cable...which is win for consumers.

 

[JPL]

I'm sure this is partially correct, but they have a lot more areas to build-out. For instance, Verizon (Fios TV) has been in my former County in Virginia for the past 3-years, yet the service is only available to 10% of residence. The next milestone in the franchise agreement is service to 50% of residence at the 7-year mark and 80% of residence at the 10-year mark. Of course, residence eligible for service must also meet a population density requirement. Oh well, at least the competition is bringing about better pricing and incentives from Cable...which is win for consumers.

I'm just repeating what I read in the Verizon press statement about the numbers. They're claiming that the lower-than-expected numbers are due to cable being more aggressive. I'm interested to see what this does to the profitability of some of these cable companies. Gaining new customers, interestingly enough, is expensive. You have to lay out money to set a customer up. Plus they've been very aggressively pricing their stuff to compete with FiOS in many areas. Again, that's a cost to them.

I think Verizon needs to look to the 'next thing' to set them apart. At the end of the day, all TV service providers will have similar offerings: number of HD channels, VOD, DVR service, remote DVR booking... that kind of thing. What will set one apart from the others will come down to additional functionality that only that one company can offer. I think Verizon's already laying the groundwork for that - their network connectivity, I've long believed, is the ace up the sleeve for them. They're just starting to exploit that. Wait until they start offering stuff like sling-like functionality on their boxes (which they've already announced is coming), e.g.