Verizon Wireless highlighted strong growth in postpaid customer additions and revenue, increased smartphone penetration, and “record” margins for the first quarter of 2013, highlighting “momentum” in the business which is driving revenue and profitability. The business, which is a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group, saw an operating income of $6.42 billion, up from $5.22 billion in Q1 2012, on operating revenue of $19.52 billion, up from $18.27 billion. Service revenue was $16.73 billion, up from $15.41 billion. Operating income margin for the period was 32.9 per cent, compared with 28.6 per cent in the same period in 2012, while EBITDA service margin was 50.4 per cent, compared with 46.3 per cent. Verizon said that it saw 5.9 million LTE device activations in the quarter. More than half of its total data traffic (54 per cent) is now on its 4G network, which offers coverage of more than 95 per cent of its 3G footprint.
