New Verizon CEO focuses on customer retention amid wireless subscriber churn

Verizon Communications Inc.'s new CEO is pivoting the telecom company toward a more customer-centric strategy as it seeks to regain its competitive footing.

Verizon's consumer business posted 7,000 postpaid phone net losses in the third quarter, compared to AT&T Inc.'s 405,000 additions and T-Mobile US Inc.'s 1 million postpaid phone net customer adds. While Verizon's wireless service revenue grew 2.1%, AT&T achieved 2.3% growth in the same metric.

"When I look at our performance objectively, Verizon is clearly falling short of our potential. And as a result, we are not delivering the shareholder returns our investors expect," CEO Dan Schulman said during the company's Oct. 29 earnings call. Schulman was appointed to succeed Hans Vestberg as the company's CEO earlier in October.

"Despite investing significantly in network leadership, we have not been able to translate that into winning in the market," Schulman said. Going forward, Schulman plans to drive cost savings across the business by optimizing capital allocation and moving away from the company's technology-focused approach.

Verizon shares traded slightly higher following the earnings announcement as investors digested the company's results and Schulman's strategic vision. The stock has underperformed the broader market over the past year as Verizon struggled to grow its wireless subscriber base amid intense competition from other wireless carriers, as well as cable operators like Charter Communications Inc. and Comcast Corp.

Analysts note that Verizon's new strategic direction under CEO Schulman comes at a critical time as the company seeks to regain competitive footing in the increasingly saturated US wireless market.

"We remain concerned about the sustainability of Verizon's price-increase strategy, which has contributed to higher churn and subscriber losses despite revenue growth," wrote CFRA Equity Research analyst Keith Snyder in an Oct. 29 research note, maintaining a "sell" recommendation.

Overall, Verizon reported third-quarter 2025 consolidated revenue of $33.8 billion, up 1.5% year over year, boosted by its business and broadband segments.

Verizon's business segment delivered 51,000 postpaid phone net additions. The company noted continued disconnect pressure in the public sector due to government efficiency efforts. According to company executives, this pressure was offset by strong demand from small and medium businesses and large enterprise customers.

Broadband continued to be a bright spot for Verizon, with 306,000 net additions bringing its total broadband subscriber base to over 13.2 million, up 1.3 million from a year ago. Fios internet delivered 61,000 net additions, its best quarterly result in two years, according to the company.

"Given the demand for Fios, we're working to bring it to more and more premises within our footprint," said Verizon CFO Tony Skiadas during the earnings call.

Verizon recently announced an initiative with Tillman Global Holdings, LLC to expand its Fios broadband offerings beyond its current footprint. The agreement combines Tillman's network design, build, and operations capabilities with Verizon's scale, distribution strength, and brand power, executives said.

On the regulatory front, Verizon reported progress with its pending acquisition of Frontier Communications Parent Inc., noting approvals from 11 of 13 states. The company expects to close the deal in the first quarter of 2026, which would significantly expand its fiber footprint to about 29 million fiber passings.

"The pending acquisition of Frontier will enable us to serve approximately 29 million fiber passings, creating a massive cross-sell opportunity," Schulman said. "Our wireless share significantly under-indexes in Frontier's territory, and we intend to address this on day one."

Schulman also emphasized the need to reduce churn and increase Verizon's share of new mobile subscribers.

"For the past few years, our financial growth has relied too heavily on price increases. A strategic approach that relies too much on price without subscriber growth is not a sustainable strategy," Schulman said. "Every year, it gets harder to grow as we lap past price increases and experience higher churn."