Verizon Subscriber Losses Follow Last Year’s $1M FCC Fine Over 911 Failures and Outages

Key Takeaways

• Verizon has reported a decline in consumer phone subscribers.
• In the first quarter of 2025, Verizon had 356,000 fewer subscribers.
• The drop-off follows network outages and a regulatory penalty in 2024.

Verizon has reported a notable decline in consumer wireless subscriptions in the first quarter of 2025.

The drop comes after a difficult year for Verizon, which experienced repeated outages in 2024 and was hit by a million-dollar fine related to 911 call failures.

Verizon Loses Subscribers

In the first quarter of 2025, Verizon reported 356,000 fewer consumer phone subscribers than in the previous quarter.

The results were notably worse than analysts had been expecting and essentially erased the gains Verizon made in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Explaining the drop-off, Verizon Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Anthony Skiadas said the losses “reflect the impact of recent pricing actions.”

However, he sought to reassure investors that the company would end the year with better net subscriber numbers, noting that “our new three-year price lock and free phone guarantee is resonating in the market.”

Meanwhile, CEO Hans Vestberg pointed to another factor that has weighed on Verizon’s wireless subscriptions: “the new government and their efficiency work.”

Outages Threaten Verizon’s Reputation

In a competitive market where the big three American cell networks compete for the vast majority of U.S. customers, Verizon is often touted as a more reliable alternative to AT&T.

But in recent years, that reputation has been threatened by a series of network outages that have left customers unable to use the internet or make calls.

Verizon 911 Downtime

A major incident occurred in December 2022, when a faulty security update caused a widespread outage that affected customers in six states, some of whom were unable even to make 911 calls.

After the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) opened a probe into the event, Verizon agreed to pay over a million dollars to settle the matter.

However, further episodes of downtime have occurred since then.

For instance, thousands of Verizon home internet customers experienced service disruption that left them unable to get online in October 2024.