Verizon to shed another 8,000 jobs after Q2 profit decline

Verizon Communications, the biggest US mobile phone company, said today that it is shedding another 8,000 jobs before the year-end after reporting a 21-per cent decline in second-quarter profit due to shrinking of its land-line business.

The New York-based telecommunications company is laying off to 3.4 per cent of its workforce strength of 2,35,000 employees, which is over and above the 8,000 job cuts it had announced last year through layoffs, attrition, retirements, transfers and voluntary layoffs.

In the second quarter 2009, the company's wireless, broadband and video products showed resilience despite the recession, as the company added a high number of new bundled communication customers and posted another strong quarter of wireless growth.

Verizon reported a 7.2 per cent decline in total net income to $3.16 billion from $3.4 billion a year earlier.

Verizon's total operating revenues grew 11.3 per cent to $26.9 billion, compared with the second quarter 2008, including revenues from Alltel Corporation, which was acquired in January 2009 and cash flows from operations totaled $14.1 billion for the first six months of 2009, up 11.9 per cent, or $1.5 billion, over the same period last year.

The company, although investing substantially in wireless and fiber optic network business, has been struggling to cut costs on its land-line phone business.

The company added 3,03,000 net new FiOS (Internet+TV+telephone) customers, a record number for the second consecutive quarter. By the end of the second quarter, the company had 3.1 million FiOS Internet customers, an increase of 56.1 per cent compared with 30 June 2008.

In January, Verizon acquired Little Rock, Arkansas-based Alltel Corp for $5.9 billion, catapulting it to the No.1 mobile phone company in the US. (See: Verizon completes Alltel deal; to surpass AT&T as US's largest mobile phone company)