Verizon Banks on Bundles – Adds Most Wireless Customers in Six Years and Lifts 2026 Profit Outlook

With input from CNBC, Bloomberg, Investor’s Business Daily, the Wall Street Journal, and Market Watch.

Verizon closed out 2025 with a nice holiday bump: the carrier said Friday it added 616,000 monthly bill-paying wireless phone subscribers in Q4 – its biggest quarterly haul in six years – and raised its profit and cash-flow outlook for 2026.

What moved the needle? Aggressive holiday promos and bundled deals. Offers like four phone lines for $100 a month and other Black Friday/Cyber Monday-style promotions clearly hit the sweet spot for bargain-seeking phone buyers. Verizon also leaned into a longer-term play: pairing mobile with home internet. The company now reports more than 16.3 million fixed-wireless and fiber broadband connections, helped along by its acquisition of Frontier.

“Verizon will no longer be a hunting ground for our competitors,” CEO Dan Schulman said, framing the strategy around convergence – getting customers hooked on both wireless and broadband so they’re less tempted to jump ship.

Money stuff: Verizon beat the street on a few fronts. Q4 revenue was $36.4 billion (vs. $36.06B expected), and the company sees adjusted EPS for 2026 of $4.90 to $4.95, topping consensus of about $4.76. It also forecast annual free cash flow of at least $21.5 billion, above market’s roughly $20.96B estimate.

The big subscriber beat – 616k additions vs. 417,250 expected (FactSet) – mattered because wireless growth has been sluggish across the industry. Q4 promotions are a familiar playbook: carriers slash device prices or bundle services to lure customers during the phone-buying rush. Verizon’s push suggests that pairing attractive mobile deals with beefed-up fiber offerings can still win customers.

Schulman, who took the helm in October, has been trimming and reshuffling the company: Verizon previously announced more than 13,000 job cuts to shave costs and refocus operations. The idea is clear – leaner company, sharper marketing, and stronger bundling power backed by fiber infrastructure.

Why fiber matters: with Frontier now in the fold, Verizon can sell high-speed home internet alongside wireless plans – and bundles keep average revenue per user higher and churn lower. That combo seems to have worked this quarter.

Verizon’s holiday discounts paid off, investors liked the raised guidance, and management is doubling down on a broadband-plus-wireless pitch. Whether that momentum sticks once promos fade will be the next test – but for now, Verizon is enjoying a rare win in a crowded, price-sensitive market.