Verizon added 997,000 wireless customers during the third quarter, but despite the presence of some high-profile Android devices in its lineup, that was not enough to beat AT&T, which – with the help of Apple's iPhone – added 2.6 million new subscribers during the same period.
Verizon still has a small lead over AT&T in terms of total wireless subscriber numbers – 93.2 million for Verizon compared to AT&T's 92.8 million.
For the third quarter, Verizon on Friday reported revenue of $26.5 billion, down 2.9 percent from the same time period last year. Profit was also down, from $1.18 billion in the third quarter of 2009 to $881 million this quarter.
AT&T, which announced its earnings Thursday, reported revenue of $31.6 billion, a 2.8 percent increase from last year, and a $12.3 billion profit, up from $3.2 billion last year.
AT&T added 2.6 million wireless subscribers this quarter, which the company said was its highest third-quarter gain in company history. This comes after the June launch of the iPhone 4, which AT&T carries exclusively in the U.S. AT&T activated 5.2 million iPhones in the third quarter, 24 percent of which were for new customers. That's a 62 percent increase from the 3.2 million iPhones activated in the second quarter of 2010, AT&T said.
All of this could change dramatically if Verizon finally gets the iPhone. That has thus far been a pipe dream for Verizon customers, but rumors about a Verizon iPhone in early 2011 have ramped up lately with talk of a CDMA iPhone. Verizon also recently announced that it will start selling the Apple iPad at its retail stores starting Oct. 28, and start offering the Samsung Galaxy Tab on Nov. 11.
A September report said that a Verizon iPhone could attract 1.4 million AT&T users to Verizon.
On the FiOS side, meanwhile, Verizon said it added 226,000 FiOS Internet and 204,000 FiOS TV customers for a total of 3.9 million FiOS Internet and 3.3 million FiOS TV customers. At this point, FiOS Internet is available to 31 percent of Verizon customers, or 12.5 million homes; FiOS TV is similar at 27.2 percent or 12.1 million.
AT&T's U-verse TV, meanwhile, added 236,000 customers to reach 2.7 million.