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Verizon Raises Full-Year Outlook After Adding 406,000 Postpaid Phone Customers and Signs $2 Billion-Plus AWS AI Deal

Verizon added 406,000 postpaid phone customers in the third quarter, raised its full-year earnings forecast to $5.04 to $5.06 per share, and signed a deal worth more than $2 billion to provide fiber connectivity for Amazon Web Services data centers.

By admin Oct. 26, 2026 · 8:42 AM ET 2 min read

A cell tower with antenna panels stands above a city skyline under a clear sky.
A cell tower with antenna panels stands above a city skyline under a clear sky.

Verizon raised its full-year outlook on Monday after adding 406,000 postpaid phone customers in the third quarter, nearly double what analysts had expected, and said it had signed a deal worth more than $2 billion with Amazon Web Services to support artificial-intelligence infrastructure.

A person in a hooded jacket holds a smartphone with a blank dark screen on a city sidewalk.
A person in a hooded jacket holds a smartphone with a blank dark screen on a city sidewalk.

The carrier now expects to add between 1.1 million and 1.2 million postpaid phone customers for the full year, and it raised its full-year adjusted earnings forecast to $5.04 to $5.06 per share, from $4.99 to $5.04. The company said it had raised its full-year guidance for a third consecutive quarter.

What changed in the quarter

Third-quarter profit was $5.3 billion, or $1.25 per share, compared with $5.06 billion, or $1.17 per share, a year earlier, according to Dow Jones Newswires. Adjusted earnings per share were $1.31. Revenue rose 1.5% to $34.3 billion, below analyst estimates.

Mobility and broadband service revenue rose 2.9% to $23.5 billion, while equipment revenue fell 9%, as customers held on to phones for longer and Verizon cut back on device subsidies. Verizon also added 137,000 postpaid net accounts, which it said was its best result on that measure in more than a decade, and 314,000 net broadband connections.

Chief Executive Dan Schulman said the company was gaining loyal, high-value customers as it moved away from heavy subsidies and toward other offers, including its Simplicity plan, which it introduced in June with transparent pricing and unlimited data.

A second fiber deal for AI work

A corridor in a data center lined on both sides with server racks showing small blue lights.
A corridor in a data center lined on both sides with server racks showing small blue lights.

Under the Amazon Web Services deal, Verizon will provide high-capacity fiber-optic connectivity for Amazon’s cloud data centers, to support agentic and generative AI workloads. “Technology leaders are choosing our fiber network to power the next generation of AI infrastructure,” Schulman said.

Bundles of black cables with thin fiber-optic strands showing small points of light at their ends.
Bundles of black cables with thin fiber-optic strands showing small points of light at their ends.

The deal follows a similar agreement in July, valued at more than $1 billion, under which Verizon supplies dark fiber connecting Google data centers. Together, the two deals show a carrier looking for revenue from AI data-center traffic in addition to its phone and broadband business.

Reporting based on coverage by Reuters, Dow Jones Newswires via Morningstar, and Investopedia.

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