Verizon Wireless is picking up speed.
The telecom giant showed its business continued to grow even without a new iPhone, as it attracted consumers with its variety of Android-powered LTE phones.
The company said yesterday it added 1.3 million customers in the third quarter and sold 5.6 million smartphones — including 2 million iPhones and 1.4 million LTE phones, which run on Verizon’s speedier 4G data network.
New York-based Verizon’s iPhone activations trailed the 2.7 million sold by AT&T — however, AT&T also sold the $50 model that Verizon did not have. Verizon did, though, handily beat its Dallas-based rival in total customers added, as AT&T added just 319,000 new customers.
Quarterly profits at Verizon rose to $1.4 billion compared to $659 million during the same quarter last year. Still, the performance disappointed Wall Street, which expected more customers to join the company.
The lower-than-anticipated sign-ups were partly the result of the fact that the release of the next-generation iPhone 4S didn’t come until this quarter.
Verizon only won the rights to sell the iPhone this year.
The first one it released was the same one AT&T had been selling for more than six months, and Verizon has said the lack of a new device has limited its competitiveness so far.
The fourth quarter is the first time that both companies have the same brand-new iPhone and the older models that sell for much less, making it a key quarter in the iPhone wars.
Sprint also has the phone for the first time this quarter.
AT&T sold 1 million of the newer iPhone 4S in the days after its Oct. 14 debut.
Verizon has declined to give a comparable number.