Verizon is big on IoT 'cos its wireline biz is dying on the vine

Verizon says that it will focus on "developing new markets," as the telco giant was just able to keep revenues on the uptick.

The US carrier said that it would be shifting a focus over towards the internet of things (IoT) and its content market in the coming months, as it looks to bolster sagging revenues in other parts of its business.

For the Q1 2016 period:

• Revenues of $32.2bn were up 0.6 per cent over last year's take of $31.98bn.
• Net income of $4.43bn was up 2.1 per cent over $4.33bn last year.
• Non-GAAP earnings per share of $1.06 met analyst estimates, though the company still saw its stock price fall slightly in after-hours trading.
• Wireless revenues of $22bn were down 1.5 per cent from $22.33bn last year. The wireless unit was buoyed by a 17.2 per cent jump in hardware revenues.
• Wireline revenues of $9.29bn were down 1.9 per cent from $9.47bn a year ago. Though consumer wireline revenues were up, small business, enterprise and global wholesale revenues all took a hit.

The wireline side of the business has for some time now been seen by and large as a drag on Verizon's more successful mobile network. The carrier has been looking to rid itself of some of its wireless carriers, including the recent sale of its three largest FiOS ISP markets to Frontier Communications.

At the same time, Verizon says it will be increasingly looking to build its IoT business, which logged $195m in revenues, up 25 per cent over the year-ago quarter.

"Verizon’s strong first-quarter results demonstrate our capacity to compete effectively, while executing on our plan of continued network leadership and seeding new growth markets in mobile video and the Internet of Things," said CEO Lowell McAdam.

Verizon also talked up its content network, and particularly AOL, which was said to have had its highest revenues in five years, though those numbers were not given. This could be good news for the prospects of a Verizon acquisition of Yahoo! and merger with AOL.

Word from Yahoo! on the sale of its core business is expected soon. ®