The wireless industry does not traditionally have a great reputation when it comes to being transparent. That was the basis of T-Mobile’s entire Un-carrier strategy, which forced Verizon and AT&T to drop what used to be the mainstays of how the industry charged.
Those changes included:
Ending overage charges
Making it much easier for customers to switch brands
Dropping long-term contracts
Making texting and phone calls unlimitedSource: T-Mobile’s Un-carrier history page
Before those changes, your phone bill could vary, and many people opted for a plan bigger than they needed to avoid overage charges. At the time, T-Mobile was the fourth-place brand looking to agitate to gain media attention.
That has most certainly changed: After T-Mobile purchased Sprint in 2018, wireless now has a big three.
With T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon all being viable options for most Americans, all three carriers have to be careful when it comes to increasing prices. That’s a lesson Verizon learned the hard way, according to its new CEO Dan Schulman.
“Verizon is at a critical inflection point,” Schulman said in the Q4 earnings release. “Our number one priority is to invest wisely and strategically into our business, so we maintain our network excellence and fully delight our customers. Our 2026 guidance reflects the beginning of our turnaround, and is a step function change from our past five-year historical average.”
In fourth-quarter 2025, Verizon reported EPS of $0.55 and adjusted EPS, excluding special items, of $1.09.
Total operating revenue was $36.4 billion.
Consolidated net income was $2.4 billion, and consolidated adjusted EBITDA was $11.9 billion.
Verizon reported total postpaid phone net additions of 616,000, up from 504,000 in fourth-quarter 2024, marking the best quarter of postpaid phone net additions since 2019.
Wireless service revenue was $21.0 billion, up 1.1% year over year.
Wireless equipment revenue was $8.2 billion, up 9.1% year over year. Source: Verizon’s Q4 2025 earnings release
Schulman promised to do better by the wireless carrier’s customers.
“Our financial success will rely on subscriber growth, driven by convergence, a value-based pricing strategy, superior value-added services, and a fully revamped end-to-end customer experience,” he said on Verizon’s fourth-quarter earnings call.
Schulman, who has only been on the job for a few months, addressed the backlash over Verizon raising its price four times in 2025.
“One of the reasons why we have such high churn rate, one of the reasons why we’ve been losing share over the last several years is because we keep raising our pricing without corresponding value. And that is the primary reason why our customers churn,” he added.
“And the #1 rule of getting out of a hole is stop digging. And we’re just not going to do that again,” he said.
The CEO also made a promise about pricing.
“We will not rely on empty price increases to drive short-term revenue and earnings. That is not a sustainable financial model nor an engine of long-term growth,” he added.
Max Greve, a Seeking Alpha contributor who has held a long-term position in Verizon since 2022, expressed confidence that the wireless carrier is on the right track under Schulman. He shared bullish comments on the immediate changes Schulman implemented when he took over in October.
“It’s only been a week, but Schulman has already executed a fundamental reset. By resetting pricing to draw in more subscribers, Verizon is finally aligning pricing with its C-Band spectrum strategy. And in anticipation of success, it is acquiring a new tech stack to finally bring mmWave to the urban cores where it can make the difference,” he wrote.
Other analysts agree and were pleased with the Q4 results.
“Investors have worried that Verizon’s renewed focus on unit growth would mean weaker financial results, and perhaps a wireless price war, as a consequence,” Craig Moffett, analyst at MoffettNathanson, told Investing.com.
“By and large, Schulman’s first quarter as CEO delivered precisely what he promised. Unit metrics improved. Financial metrics weakened.”
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Citi analyst Michael Rollins holds a similar view about the company’s early success under its new boss.
“Verizon Q4 results and guide are setting the stage for Verizon to take a more aggressive posture on subscriber growth, which may come at the cost of some ARPU (average revenue per subscriber) dilution,” he said in a report shared with Investor’s Business Daily.
Verizon’s 2026 guidance shows the new CEO is executing a clear turnaround strategy.
Total retail postpaid phone net additions were 750,000 to 1 million, which is approximately two to three times the 2025 reported result.
Total mobility and broadband service revenue growth was 2% to 3%, equating to approximately $93 billion.
Wireless service revenue growth will be approximately flat in 2026 as the company transitions to sustainable volume-based growth.
Adjusted EPS of $4.90 to $4.95, or year-over-year growth of 4% to 5%, representing a significant acceleration compared to recent historical performance.
Cash flow from operations of $37.5 billion to $38.0 billion, and capital expenditures of $16.0 billion to $16.5 billion. This includes a fiber build pace of at least 2 million passings in 2026.Source: Verizon’s Q4 earnings release
Related: Costco reveals how it keeps prices low for members
This story was originally published by TheStreet on Feb 8, 2026, where it first appeared in the Retail section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
