Verizon Q3: 1.1M new customers, $30.3B revenue

Verizon on Thursday reported fiscal third quarter earnings that beat Wall Street expectations, by adding more than 1.1 million new customers.

The largest U.S. cellular network by subscribers reported second quarter profit of $7.1 billion. Excluding a one-time benefit over pensions, earnings per share stood at 77 cents per share, on revenue of $30.28 billion, up more than 20 percent on the year-ago quarter.

For the third quarter, Wall Street expected Verizon to report earnings of 74 cents a share and revenue of $30.16.

The cellular giant saw 7.6 million smartphones activated during the three-month period, with 88 percent of all device activations being phones. In total, 6.8 million LTE devices were activated on the network, with 64 percent of all the network's traffic currently on LTE.

The U.S. wireless industry has become increasingly competitive over the past few quarters, in particular with T-Mobile's notable push to shake up the industry with non-traditional plans and services. Meanwhile, Sprint wants to expand domestically by selling a major stake to Japanese firm Softbank.

While these moves are not expected to hit Verizon in the short-term, it's yet another worry for the company to consider in the not-so-distant future.

In September, Verizon said it will pay $130 billion for Vodafone's stake in Verizon Wireless, giving the U.S. cellular giant full ownership of the joint carrier.

In prepared remarks, Verizon chairman and chief executive Lowell McAdam said "consistent strategic investments" in wireless, fiber, and global networks drove the company's strong financial performance.

He added:

"Having posted double-digit earnings growth in five of the last six quarters, we are focused on continuing to provide the best portfolio of products on the most reliable networks; capturing incremental revenue growth in broadband, video and cloud services; and sustaining our earnings and cash-flow momentum."