Verizon Wireless data revenues jump 23.8 percent in Q2

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) swung to second-quarter losses of almost $200 million as the company booked $2.3 billion of charges related to its ongoing buyout of about 11,000 employees. Verizon said it lost $198 million in Q2 2010, compared to earnings of $1.48 billion in the year-ago period; revenue dipped to $26.8 billion, down from $26.9 billion a year ago. The telecom giant's Verizon Wireless unit increased total revenues 3.4 percent year-over-year, buoyed by 5.2 percent growth in service revenues and a 23.8 percent jump in data revenues.

Verizon Wireless added 1.4 million total net customers during the quarter, including 665,000 retail postpaid net customer additions, and now boasts 92.1 million total subscribers--factoring segments like ereaders and telematics into the equation, the total number of wireless connections surges to 99.7 million. Total customer churn fell to 1.27 percent, with retail postpaid churn slipping to 0.94 percent--Verizon said both are at their best levels in almost two years.

Verizon Wireless' retail service ARPU increased 0.9 percent over the second quarter of 2009 to $51.56, while retail data ARPU jumped to $17.85, up 19.4 percent year over year. Data revenues now represent 34.5 percent of all service revenues, up from 29.3 percent in Q2 2009. Verizon subscribers sent or received more than 180 billion text messages during the second quarter, also transmitting close to 4.2 billion picture/video messages and completing over 25 million music and video downloads.

For more on Verizon Wireless' Q2 results:
- read this release and also check out FierceWireless' Q2 earnings page

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