Keep up to date with Lightwave+BTR’s earnings coverage.
You can check in our publication’s key segments:
And
Also, here's coverage of other key stories on Verizon:
Verizon’s CEO says its on track to reach 650K new Fios subscribers in 2025
Verizon continues to rack up more customers for Fios, a trend that continued into the first quarter of 2025. The telco is confident that it will continue raising its fiber-based service reach.
Speaking to investors during Verizon's first quarter 2025 earnings call, Hans Vestberg, CEO, said that the company will reach over 600,000 locations this year.
“We have our Fios, which last year was roughly 450,000 optical fiber services (OFS), we're ramping up to 650,000,” he said. “That will help us to continue. So, there is no slowdown in speed or appetite or interest for customers; it's just technically how the rollout works with fixed wireless access.”
But the company is not stopping there.
Vestberg reiterated that it will add one million-plus fiber subscribers annually when it completes the Frontier acquisition, but did not elaborate.
“Our focus right now is, of course, to close Frontier,” he said. “When we have Frontier closed, we initially said, as we didn't have all the data, that plus 1 million OFS a year should be what we're targeting.”
He added, “We haven't defined that we need to get closer to the closing to give you an update, and we will do that.”
Q1 broadband ramp
Broadband continued to be a factor in Verizon's first quarter.
In the first quarter, Verizon added 339,000 broadband net additions for the business and consumer side, spread over fixed wireless access (FWA) and Fios.
Specifically, it added 308,000 new FWA customers in the first quarter of 2025, growing the base to over 4.8 million fixed wireless access subscribers.
However, Fios internet net additions were 45,000 in the first quarter of 2025, down from 53,000 in the first quarter of 2024.
Verizon’s total broadband connections grew to more than 12.6 million as of the end of first-quarter 2025, representing a 13.7 percent increase year over year.
“In broadband, our Fios and fixed wireless access offerings are attracting new customers quarter after quarter,” said Tony Skiadis, CFO of Verizon. “We had 339,000 net adds in the period and continue taking market share. This is a solid start to the year and one we expect to build on as we expand our C-band and Fios availability.”
New churn, APRU dynamics
Verizon continues to manage churn and ARPU using various methods for its FWA and Fios brands.
Sowmyanarayan Sampath, EVP and CEO of Verizon Consumer Group, said Verizon's segmentation approach for FWA and Fios is helping its overall broadband results.
With FWA, Verizon focuses on value for cost convenience and Fios focuses on reliability and performance. “‘The segmentation strategy is working well, and we are growing on both sides,' he said. “That's why we had a robust quarter at 339,000 broadband net adds for both consumer and business.”
Despite the decline in Fios TV and legacy DSL, Verizon's Fios internet service saw net additions in the first quarter of 2025.
“Fios had its best churn in a very long time this quarter, and it goes back to the strong NPS customer satisfaction and reliability of the fiber plant,” Sampath said. “On FWA, we are seeing sequential improvement in churn, which is important for us as the product matures, and we get more comfortable, and customers get more comfortable with the piece.”
Likewise, Verizon found ARPU growth across its Fios and FWA products. Verizon attributes growth to two main trends: price realization, premium FWA plans, and 1 Gbps-plus Fios plan adoption.
“A combination of those two is giving us good ARPU growth at the pace,” Sampath said. “We are growing in volume, and we are growing in price. And that's the perfect way to build a sustainable business in the broadband space.”
Converged service adoption continues to be an issue in reducing Fios and FWA churn.
Sampath noted that many of its FWA and Fios customers were adopting a converged offering that includes wireless and broadband.
In 2024, Verizon relaunched our brand and accelerated its adoption of myPlan and myHome. With myPlan, every family member can have a unique plan, with the option to customize data, perks, and other features, while myHome allows customers to customize home internet plans.
“We are still holding on to our plan that every time you combine the two, we tend to see a 50% reduction in mobility churn when we have fiber and a decrease in mobility churn when we have FWA,” he said. “Volumes have been strong, but our converged posture is improving every single day that happens.”
He added that all of this “helps with long-term churn but also proves the Verizon model of convergence, which tends to be very demand-led. It's based on a strong offering and giving customers what they want, which is flexibility, not just using price and promotions to get a converged offering.”
For related articles, visit the Business Topic Center.
For more information on high-speed transmission systems and suppliers, visit the Lightwave Buyer’s Guide.
To stay abreast of fiber network deployments, subscribe to Lightwave’s Service Providers and Datacom/Data Center newsletters.
Sean Buckley
Sean is responsible for establishing and executing the editorial strategies of Lightwave and Broadband Technology Report across their websites, email newsletters, events, and other information products.