Quarterly results: TeliaSonera, Verizon and Qualcomm

Operators Verizon and TeliaSonera, as well as chipmaker Qualcomm have each posted encouraging quarterly earnings.

US carrier Verizon saw a 7.7 per cent year-on-year in service revenues for 1Q12 to reach $15.4bn. Data revenues rose by 21.1 per cent, or $1.1bn, to hit $6.6bn, and the operator also saw a 8.9 per cent increase in retail service revenues to reach $14.9bn; the highest growth rate it has seen in its retail business for three years.

“We built momentum coming out of 2011, and our results show that we continue to execute in the key growth areas of our business,” said Lowell McAdam, Verizon chairman and CEO.  “We are on track with our plans and expect to continue to deliver strong results.”

Meanwhile, Sweden’s TeliaSonera revealed that its net sales in local currencies and excluding acquisitions increased by 2.9 per cent in its first quarter of 2012. However, net income fell by 15.9 per cent to SEK 3.9 bn ($576m).

Lars Nyberg, TeliaSonera’s president and CEO said that the operator’s organic growth rate improved in the first quarter compared with previous quarters.“Eurasia continued to deliver double-digit growth, while revenues in broadband services were almost at the same level as last year. In mobility services, the growth was mainly driven by equipment sales.”

He added that changes in customer behaviour means that the firm must develop its business models and how it charges for services going forward.

“We have been in the forefront stating that while prices for voice will continue to come down there must be a stronger correlation between usage and pricing of data. We have been early in introducing tiered pricing of data, lower costs for data roaming and recently openly communicated that we will start to charge for mobile VoIP.”

And Qualcomm, which has just completed its second quarter of 2012, posted a 28 per cent year-on-year increase in revenue to reach $4.94bn. Operating income stood at $1.51bn, up six percent on 2Q11 and the firm’s net income grew 123 per cent to reach $2.23 billion.

“I am pleased to report another quarter of record revenues and earnings per share, driven by strong demand for 3G- and 4G-enabled devices across both developed and emerging regions,” said Dr Paul Jacobs, chairman and CEO of Qualcomm. “We are excited to see the continued growth of 3G and 4G smartphones, as well as new mobile computing devices. We are increasing our operating expenses to facilitate additional 28 nanometer supply and to continue to position our industry-leading chipset solutions for the opportunities ahead.”