Verizon Communications Inc. reported record financial results for the third quarter of 2026, driven by strong customer additions and operational efficiency. The company announced that total operating revenue for the quarter was $34.3 billion, a 1.5 percent increase year-over-year.
Subscriber metrics showed significant improvement. The company delivered 406,000 postpaid phone net additions, marking the strongest third-quarter performance in five years. This represents a more than 820 percent increase compared to the same period in 2025. Additionally, Verizon added 137,000 postpaid net accounts, the best performance in over a decade. Broadband net additions totaled 314,000, comprising 159,000 fixed wireless access and 155,000 fiber broadband connections.
Financial performance was robust, with consolidated net income reaching $5.3 billion, a 5.2 percent increase year-over-year. This resulted in a net income margin of 15.5 percent. The company reported consolidated Adjusted EBITDA of $13.8 billion, an 8.0 percent increase, which represents the highest quarterly Adjusted EBITDA in the company's history. Earnings per share (EPS) was $1.25, up 6.8 percent year-over-year, while Adjusted EPS was $1.31, up 8.3 percent.
Verizon also highlighted its operational efficiency and cash generation. Cash flow from operating activities was $11.5 billion for the quarter, up 2.2 percent year-over-year, supporting free cash flow of $7.8 billion, up 12.1 percent. The company returned $12.8 billion of capital to shareholders in the first nine months of the year, including $8.8 billion in dividends and $4.0 billion in share repurchases.
In a strategic development, Verizon expanded its partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS). The company signed a commercial framework valued at over $2 billion to scale distributed compute for real-time agentic and generative AI workloads.
Guidance for the full year 2026 was raised for the third consecutive quarter. The company now expects postpaid phone net additions of 1.1 million to 1.2 million, Adjusted EPS of $5.04 to $5.06, and free cash flow growth of approximately 12.0 percent year-over-year. Capital expenditures for the year are expected to be between $16.0 billion and $16.5 billion.
