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Shares of the company were up 2.5% in premarket trading.
The U.S. telecom firm lost 68,000 monthly bill-paying wireless
phone subscribers between January and March, which is a
seasonally softer period for the industry after the holiday
quarter.
That compared with an estimated loss of 100,000 expected by
eight analysts polled by FactSet and a loss of 127,000 in the
first quarter of 2023.
The New York-based company said last month that a majority of
its customers were opting for its premium, customizable myPlan
option, which has resonated well with consumers.
It announced its latest promotional offerings for myPlan - with
six months of a Disney bundle free for new and existing
customers on selected unlimited plans - starting last Thursday.
In December, Verizon began offering discounted subscriptions to
Netflix and Warner Bros Discovery's Max streaming service with
some myPlan bundles.
The firm reported total revenue of $33 billion in the three
months to March, compared to an LSEG estimate of $33.24 billion,
as phone upgrade levels continue to drift lower.
Customers are showing a clear preference for holding onto their
phones for longer periods amid economic uncertainty and a lack
of major new features, analysts have said.
Verizon's plans normally cost more than rivals such as AT&T and
T-Mobile, which are scheduled to report earnings later in the
week.
Its consumer business reported 158,000 wireless retail postpaid
phone net losses, compared to 263,000 losses a year ago, marking
the best first-quarter performance for the unit since 2018.
Free cash flow, a metric that helps determine dividend payouts,
was $2.7 billion, below the $3.6 billion estimated by Visible
Alpha.
(Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese; Editing by Pooja Desai)
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