telecom

Strong Signal: Verizon FiOS Adds Telco, Net Subscribers

satellite

About one-quarter of customers eligible for Verizon's telco TV service have signed up, helping to drive the number of subscribers higher in the third quarter, though growth rate slowed.

The company, the eighth-largest MSO, added 191,000 net new FiOS TV subscribers, bringing its total to 2.7 million.

The penetration rate is at 24.9% with 10.9 million potential customers -- a figure that was at 19.7% at the end of the third quarter a year ago.

Still, new customer acquisition was slower than in the previous two quarters, and gross sales were lower due to what the company hinted was a slowdown in marketing.

CFO John Killian, speaking on a call to discuss 3Q results, said FiOS "continues to have good momentum in the market."

AT&T, which has telco TV service U-verse, recently said it added a net gain of 240,000 new customers in 3Q, closing with 1.8 million homes served. But its penetration rate was at a lower 12%.

advertisement

advertisement

Verizon also added 198,000 net new FiOS Internet subscribers in 3Q, and now has 3.3 million customers. Penetration is at 28.5%.

Verizon believes it can continues to add about 1 million new FiOS customers a year, Killian said. FiOS revenue in 3Q was $1.4 billion, up 56% versus a year ago. One benefit, Killian said, of FiOS is it can lower cost structure at the company.

Next story loading loading..