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Verizon sells 3.1 million iPhones in Q3 2012

Verizon has reported that Q3 2012 results, including over 3.1 million iPhones sold, over a fifth of which were Apple's latest generation iPhone 5. That compares to 3.4 million Android phones. That's an interesting mix given the iPhone 5 launched less than a month ago, and iPhone sales in general were greatly reduced prior to that. Lowell McAdam, Verizon chairman and CEO had this to say:

In the third quarter, Verizon continued to deliver double-digit earnings growth and strong cash generation, and we remain solidly on track to meet our financial objectives for the year. With our 4G LTE network advantage, well-received Share Everything Plans and unmatched product portfolio, Verizon Wireless continues to do an outstanding job of balancing growth and profitability. Wireless achieved record profitability in a quarter in which we reported the highest number of retail postpaid gross and net adds in four years.

And the Verizon Wireless specific results:

Verizon Wireless Results: Record Profitability, Strong Customer and Revenue Growth

In third-quarter 2012, Verizon Wireless delivered the highest number of retail postpaid net additions in four years; strong growth in revenues; an increase in smartphone penetration; and the highest segment EBITDA margin on service revenues (non-GAAP) in the company?s history, surpassing last quarter?s previous high.

Wireless Financial Highlights

Service revenues in the quarter totaled $16.2 billion, up 7.5 percent year over year. Retail service revenues grew 7.9 percent year over year, to $15.5 billion.

Total revenues were $19.0 billion, up 7.3 percent year over year.

Retail postpaid ARPA (average revenue per account) grew 6.5 percent over third-quarter 2011, to $145.42 per month. Following the recent introduction of the Share Everything Plan and as customers continue to add multiple devices to accounts, Verizon Wireless now reports ARPA instead of ARPU since customers can share data among multiple devices.

Wireless operating income margin was 31.8 percent and segment EBITDA margin on service revenues (non-GAAP) was 50.0 percent, setting record highs for the second consecutive quarter.

Wireless Operational Highlights

Verizon Wireless added 1.8 million retail net connections in the third quarter, including 1.5 million retail postpaid net connections, the highest in four years. These additions exclude acquisitions and adjustments.

At the end of the third quarter, the company had 95.9 million retail connections, a 5.7 percent increase year over year, including 90.4 million retail postpaid connections.

Verizon Wireless had 34.8 million retail postpaid accounts at the end of the third quarter, a 1.0 percent increase over the third quarter 2011, and an average of 2.6 connections per account, up 4.0 percent year over year. At the end of the third quarter, smartphones constituted more than 53 percent of Verizon Wireless? retail postpaid customer phone base, up from 50 percent at the end of second-quarter 2012.

Retail postpaid churn was 0.91 percent in the third quarter, an improvement of 3 basis points year over year. Total retail churn was 1.18 percent in the third quarter, an improvement of 8 basis points year over year.

Verizon Wireless continued to roll out its 4G LTE mobile broadband network, the largest 4G LTE network in the U.S. As of today (Oct. 18), Verizon Wireless 4G LTE service is available to more than 250 million people in 419 markets across the U.S.

The company introduced seven 4G LTE smartphones in third-quarter 2012: the DROID Incredible 4G LTE by HTC, Samsung Galaxy S III, Pantech Marauder, Intuition by LG, Samsung Galaxy Stellar, DROID RAZR M by Motorola, Apple iPhone 5; and one 4G LTE tablet, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2. The company also announced the availability of the DROID RAZR HD and the RAZR MAXX HD by Motorola, which are launching today.

After receiving FCC approval in late August, Verizon Wireless purchased AWS spectrum from SpectrumCo and Cox Communications, and also completed its spectrum transactions with T-Mobile USA Inc., Leap Wireless and Savary Island Wireless.