Verizon Says 5G Test Results Better Than Expected
Verizon fixed 5G trials “are going very well” and 5G is exceeding expectations, Chief Financial Officer Matt Ellis said Thursday during a quarterly earnings call. The company said it took a 1-cent-a-share earnings hit due to the hurricanes that struck…
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Florida and Texas. The carrier is finding that with 5G, it can deliver service without line of sight to a cell tower, Ellis said. Service to multiple dwelling units worked better than expected, with 5G working above 20 floors, higher than expected, he said. “A number of good things” are coming out of trials, Ellis said. The company still plans to launch a fixed 5G offering next year, he said. It has commercial 5G trials ongoing in 11 cities (see 1709280047). A positive point is that Verizon had a rush of customers as soon as its stores reopened in Houston post-storm, he said. Ellis declined to comment on rumors of a merger between Sprint and T-Mobile. “There’s a lot of various rumors and so on around the industry all the time,” he said. “We have the right set of assets to compete irrespective of the industry structure.” Verizon has “a great spectrum portfolio” and only about half the spectrum it controls is now serving its network, Ellis said. Among its plans for 2018 are “refarming” its 850 MHz and personal communications service spectrum and deploying service on licenses it bought in the AWS-3 auction, he said. “We’re comfortable with our spectrum position,” he said. Ellis said Verizon's plans to launch an over-the-top video service are under development, and the company envisions becoming a bigger video player. “We feel there is an opportunity for us to play,” he said. “But we don’t want to launch another ‘me too’ service.” Earnings were flat from the same quarter last year and revenue increased 2.5 percent to $31.7 billion. The company added a net 274,000 postpaid phone subscribers, compared with forecasts of about 195,000. Analysts were mostly positive. Verizon “delivered a second consecutive quarter of strong results, particularly in its wireless segment," wrote Wells Fargo's Jennifer Fritzsche.