Verizon reported 2nd quarter earnings of $1.8 billion vs. $338 mi...

its consolidated operating revenue grew to $17.8 billion from $16.8 billion a year ago. Growth businesses such as wireless, data and broadband accounted for 52% of Verizon’s 2nd-quarter revenue, compared with 46% of the revenue last year. The company also said it was “on track” for $1 billion in annual cost savings from a voluntary retirement program at the end of last year. Verizon said its wireless revenue jumped 25% to $6.8 billion 2nd quarter from a year earlier -- the 8th consecutive quarter of double- digit, year-over-year wireless revenue increases. The company added 1.5 million net new customers, saying that was “the largest quarterly customer increase in the history of the company,” formed in April 2000. Total customers grew 17% year-over-year to 40.4 million. Verizon said its average monthly service revenue per customer increased 3% to $50.80 and was “at an all-time high for the company,” and its churn reached a record low 1.45%. Verizon CFO Doreen Toben told analysts during the conference call the company’s churn “could trend up slightly during the remainder of the year” based on a historical pattern that 2nd-quarter churn is the lowest of the year. Verizon said its domestic telecom operating revenue fell 3% to $9.6 billion. It said the 2nd- quarter results included a 15% increase in revenue from all long-distance services, which was $1 billion, and a 6% increase in total data revenue, which was $1.9 billion. It said its total of more than 2.9 million DSL lines at the end of the quarter represented 53% year-over-year growth. Taking into account the retroactive long-distance line adjustment to correct database errors in response to an inquiry by the SEC, the company had 16.8 million long-distance lines in service at the end of the quarter, a 21% year-over-year increase. But Verizon said its total access lines declined 4.2% to 54.4 million, with residential lines down 4.4% and business lines 3.8% compared to last year. Toben said on a sequential basis, Verizon lost 519,000 residential lines in the quarter, reflecting “expected seasonality having to do with college disconnects.” She said Verizon also lost an additional 155,000 business lines, which she said was “a steady” but “modest improvement over previous quarters.” Toben said net additional UNEs in the quarter were 425,000, the “lowest level in a number of quarters.” Toben said while waiting for the FCC to release interim UNE rules, “we now have some hope that there will be some positive corrective action taken on the unbundling issue and the era of ongoing price reduction in this area may have come to an end.”