Earnings Preview: Verizon To Report 1Q Results

NEW YORK (AP) — Verizon Communications Inc. is scheduled to report first-quarter results Monday morning. The following is a summary of key developments and analyst opinion related to the period.

OVERVIEW: Verizon, the country's second-largest telecommunications company, has posted modest, steady revenue increases throughout the economic downturn. Its shares have been a better-than-average investment over the last year.

With the closing of its acquisition of Alltel Corp. on Jan. 9, Verizon Wireless is also the country's largest wireless carrier. With more than 80 million subscribers, it has overtaken AT&T Inc. But Verizon Communications owns only 55 percent of Verizon Wireless, meaning it doesn't reap the full benefit of growth in the wireless sector, which has been the big success story in telecommunications this decade.

Vodafone Group PLC of Britain owns the rest of Verizon Wireless.

The landline side of Verizon hasn't been doing badly, thanks to a very costly project to replace copper phone lines with optical fiber. Verizon reported that in the fourth quarter, its consumer landline revenue grew — a remarkable achievement for a phone company facing competition from cable companies and from wireless service, which is prompting some consumers to give up on traditional phones.