Verizon charges roughly 116 million consumer wireless customers a fixed monthly fee to use its network, then repeats that process with 31 million business wireless customers on top. The Consumer segment brought in $106.8 billion in 2025, about 77% of total company revenue. The Business segment added another $29.1 billion. Neither number depends on advertising clicks, product launches, or a hot economy. Families and companies pay their phone bills every month whether times are good or bad. Verizon also sells home internet through its Fios fiber network and through a newer wireless home internet service called FWA, which uses the same cell towers that power mobile phones to deliver broadband to houses without running cables. The diagram below traces where the money goes.
How Verizon Makes Money
flowchart LR
A["Wireless Network
147M connections"] --> B["Wireless Service
83.7B revenue"]
A --> C["Broadband Network
14M connections"]
C --> D["Fiber & FWA
12.9B revenue"]
B --> E["Customer Revenue
138.2B total"]
D --> E
F["Device Sales
25.5B revenue"] --> E
E --> G["Operating Cash
37.1B annually"]
G --> H["Network Investment
Upgrade & densify"]
H --> A
H --> C
G --> I["Debt Service
120.5B net debt"]
E --> J["Consumer Segment
106.8B, 77%"]
E --> K["Business Segment
29.1B, 21%"]
J --> A
K --> A
Five years of financial data tell a story of a business that is very large, very stable, and moving slowly. Revenue went from $133.6 billion in 2021 to $138.2 billion in 2025. That is real growth, but it took four years to get there and the path was not straight. Revenue dipped in 2023 before recovering. Gross margin has stayed in a tight band, between 56.8% and 59.9% across the entire period, which means Verizon's pricing power and cost structure have been remarkably consistent. Free cash flow, the actual cash left after running the business and paying for network upgrades, has also been consistent: $19.3 billion in 2021, $14.1 billion in 2022 when capital spending was heavy, and then back up to $19.8 billion in 2024 and $20.1 billion in 2025.
Verizon Free Cash Flow (2021 to 2025, $B)
Free cash flow dipped sharply in 2022 during peak network investment, then recovered. The 2025 figure of $20.1B is the highest in the five-year window.
The cash recovery matters because Verizon carries an enormous amount of debt. Net debt was $140.5 billion at the end of 2021. By the end of 2024 it had fallen to $117.2 billion, a meaningful reduction. But then it ticked back up to $120.5 billion in 2025, partly because Verizon completed the acquisition of Frontier Communications in January 2026, which expanded its fiber footprint to 31 U.S. states. That deal costs money upfront. The question is whether the new fiber customers Frontier brings justify the added weight on the balance sheet.
$120.5B
Net debt at end of 2025, up from $117.2B the year before, after the Frontier acquisition added obligations
What is FWA broadband?
FWA stands for Fixed Wireless Access. Instead of running a cable to your house, Verizon beams internet through the air using the same 5G or 4G cell towers that carry phone calls. The customer puts a small receiver in a window and gets home broadband. Verizon had 5.7 million FWA connections at the end of 2025, up sharply from earlier years.
FWA is the fastest-growing piece of Verizon's broadband business. Consumer FWA connections grew 25.5% in 2025 alone. Verizon is using the spare capacity on its wireless network, capacity that would otherwise sit idle, to deliver home internet at very low incremental cost. That is a clever use of an asset already paid for. But FWA growth is slowing. Consumer FWA added 693,000 connections in 2025 compared to 846,000 in 2024 and 989,000 in 2023. The growth rate is compressing as the easiest customers to reach have already been reached.
2025
milestone
Frontier Acquisition Reshapes the Broadband Map
Verizon completed the acquisition of Frontier Communications in January 2026, expanding its fiber broadband footprint to 31 U.S. states and Washington D.C. This is a direct bet that fiber-based home internet, not wireless-only broadband, is where long-term growth lives. Frontier brings new customers and new geography, but it also adds cost, complexity, and debt at a time when Verizon was already working to reduce its debt load.
Competition is intense. AT&T and T-Mobile fight Verizon for every wireless subscriber, often with heavy promotional discounts. Cable companies like Comcast and Charter now resell wireless service under their own brands, using Verizon's own network in some cases. Wireless postpaid churn, the rate at which paying customers leave, ticked up to 1.15% in 2025 from 1.06% in 2024. That is a small number but it moved in the wrong direction. Winning new customers costs money in promotions and device subsidies, which is part of why cost of wireless equipment jumped $2.9 billion in 2025 compared to 2024.
$65.8B
Wireless service revenue 2023
$69.4B
Wireless service revenue 2025
Consumer wireless service revenue has grown steadily, driven by price increases and customers choosing premium MyPlan bundles with perks. The gain is real but modest over two years.
The risks on Verizon's list are specific and serious. In September 2024, a group linked to the Chinese government called Salt Typhoon broke into Verizon's network to access information about government and political figures. A cyberattack that cannot be contained could disrupt service, drive away customers, and create expensive recovery costs. Separately, government agencies are investigating old lead-sheathed copper cables still buried in parts of Verizon's network. If those cables are found to cause health or environmental harm, the cleanup costs and lawsuits could be very large, and Verizon has said it cannot estimate the financial exposure yet. In early 2026, a widespread service outage hit many customers, a reminder that network reliability is not guaranteed. And Verizon's total debt, including both secured and unsecured borrowings, stood at approximately $158.2 billion at the end of 2025. If interest rates rise when that debt needs to be refinanced, less cash is available for dividends and network investment.
$47M
Fine paid in 2024 for illegally sharing customers' location information, adding to a pattern of regulatory and privacy scrutiny
Verizon announced plans in late 2025 to cut more than 13,000 positions, with over 80% of affected employees already gone by December 2025. The company framed this as a cost efficiency move, but it also signals that management sees a need to right-size the workforce even as it adds customers through the Frontier deal.
The broadband expansion through Frontier and FWA is the clearest growth lever Verizon is pulling. Consumer total broadband connections reached 10.9 million at the end of 2025, up from 9.1 million in 2023. That growth comes from both fiber and FWA. Whether broadband can eventually offset the slow grind of wireless competition, and cover the cost of building and buying all that fiber infrastructure, is the central question for the next several years.
$17.0B
Capital expenditures in 2025 alone, reflecting the scale of ongoing network investment required to stay competitive
The Bet
Verizon's broadband expansion, through Frontier's fiber network and its own FWA service, attracts and keeps enough new paying customers to grow revenue faster than competition erodes the wireless subscriber base. That assumption has to hold while Verizon simultaneously pays down a debt load that exceeds $158 billion and spends heavily to upgrade its network. If broadband growth stalls, or if the cost of fighting for wireless customers keeps rising, the math of paying down debt while growing the business becomes much harder to make work.
Open question
Verizon generates reliable cash, has a vast network, and is expanding fiber and wireless broadband into new markets. But it carries enormous debt, faces fierce competition from AT&T and T-Mobile, and just made a large acquisition that adds complexity at a moment when FWA growth is already decelerating. Can Verizon turn its broadband expansion into a real second growth engine quickly enough to justify the debt it is taking on, or will competition and rising costs keep the business locked in the same slow, flat trajectory it has traced for the last five years?
Compiled · 10-K · FY2025
Cyberattacks from Nation-State Actors
In September 2024, a sophisticated nation-state actor called Salt Typhoon attacked Verizon and other telecom companies to access information about government and political figures. If a major cyberattack happens that the company cannot contain, it could disrupt service, damage reputation, and cause expensive recovery costs and lost customers.
Lead-Sheathed Cable Litigation and Remediation
Government agencies are investigating whether certain lead-sheathed copper cables in Verizon's network infrastructure create health or environmental risks. The company could face substantial lawsuits, penalties, removal costs, and reputational damage that cannot be reasonably estimated at this time but could be material.
System Outages and Network Disruptions
In early 2026, Verizon experienced a widespread service outage affecting many customers. Future outages from power failures, natural disasters, or equipment breakdowns could result in lost revenues, litigation, government investigations, and damage to the company's reputation.
Supplier and Equipment Dependencies
Verizon depends on a limited number of suppliers for critical components like smartphone chipsets and network equipment. Supply chain disruptions from tariffs, geopolitical conflicts, or natural disasters could force the company to replace suppliers on short notice, increasing costs and disrupting service to customers.
High Debt Levels and Interest Rate Risk
As of December 31, 2025, Verizon had approximately $131.1 billion in unsecured debt and $27.1 billion in secured debt. If interest rates rise or the company needs to refinance existing debt at higher rates, it could reduce cash available for dividends, investments, and growth opportunities.
10-K Item 1A · Risk Factors
