Verizon Communications reported third-quarter earnings that were largely in line with expectations, reflecting steady growth in its wireless operations and a slow decline in its wired telephone business, an Associated Press report said.
The Associated Press report said the US' second largest telecommunications company earned $1.27 billion in the July-September period, down 34% from $1.92 billion, a year earlier.
Revenue came to $23.8 billion in the latest quarter, up 5.8% from $22.5 billion a year ago, the report said.
Wall Street was expecting revenue of $23.7 billion.
The report said Verizon's major growth driver, its moible phone operations, added 1.6 million customers for a total of 63.7 million, just behind AT&T's 65.7 million.
While Verizon has generally been slowly closing the gap with AT&T, Verizon's rival pulled ahead this quarter with an assist from Apple Inc.'s iPhone, for which it is the exclusive carrier.