🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

A new CEO’s plan helped Verizon post an unexpected Q1 subscriber gain

• Better-than-expected subscriber growth fits Verizon’s move to offer clearer value and cheaper broadband-mobile bundles 1.
• Verizon CEO Daniel Schulman said the company’s earlier reliance on price hikes could not last and led to more customer churn over time, as Verizon works to rebuild subscriber growth 1.
• The quarter’s increase offers an early read on a 2026 plan that aims for 750,000 to 1 million postpaid phone net additions for the full year 2.
• Verizon recorded positive postpaid phone net adds in Q1 2026 for the first time in 13 years in a first quarter 3.

Verizon’s bundle push adds pressure across telecom firms and cable mobile resellers

• Verizon’s renewed push for subscriber growth through discounted bundles is heating up competition in wireless and home broadband 1.
• The approach connects to Verizon’s pending purchase of Frontier, a US internet provider focused on fiber-optic broadband. Verizon expects the deal to close in the first quarter of 2026, which would expand its fiber reach and support its convergence strategy of selling several services to one customer 1.
• Bundling can cut churn. Verizon said customers who buy both fiber broadband and mobile service have nearly 40% lower mobile churn, according to its Q3 2025 earnings call transcript 1.
• While lifting profit forecasts, Verizon also tied the plan to a US$5 billion cost-savings effort that includes AI-driven efficiencies and workforce cuts 2.
• The shift puts pressure on AT&T, T-Mobile, and cable operators that sell mobile service through Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) arrangements, which means they resell wireless service on another company’s network 1.