• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, July 22, 2011

Verizon Communications on Friday said it added 2.2 million wireless customers including 1.3 million contract subscribers during the second quarter, aided by the iPhone and growing smartphone adoption. That helped the telecom company report a profit of $1.6 billion, or 57 cents a share, up from a loss of $1.2 billion, or 42 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue increased 2.8% to $27.5 billion.

Analysts had expected earnings of 55 cents on revenue of $27.4 billion.

In its wireless business, smartphones in the second quarter were 36% of Verizon’s retail contract customer phone base, up from 32% at the end of first-quarter 2011. The company activated 2.3 million iPhones in the quarter, up slightly from 2.2 million in the prior quarter. However, the Verizon iPhone was only available for seven weeks during the first quarter.

AT&T yesterday said it activated 3.6 million iPhones in the second quarter.

Verizon's total customer base climbed to 106.3 millon, up 6.6% from a year ago. As of July 21, Verizon said its 4G LTE services is available in 102 markets covering 160 million people. It expects 4G to be extended to 175 markets by year’s end.

“In terms of earnings growth and the acceleration of revenue growth, this has been one of Verizon’s best quarters since the 2008 economic downturn,” said Chairman and CEO Ivan Seidenberg. The company said president and COO Lowell McAdam will replace Seidenberg as CEO on Aug. 1 in accord with its previously disclosed succession plan. Read more here and here.