Verizon Tallies 3.7 Million FiOS TV Subs

Verizon Communications kept the FiOS fires burning strong in the first three months of the year -- adding 192,000 net new FiOS TV and 207,000 FiOS Internet customers -- although analysts questioned whether that growth will taper off now that the company's fiber-optic buildout is winding down.

Revenue for Verizon's FiOS fiber-optic services to consumer retail customers grew 23.7% over the year-ago period, to about $1.8 billion. That's approximately 54% of consumer wireline revenues in the first quarter of 2011 versus 45% a year ago. Verizon stood at 4.3 million FiOS Internet and 3.7 million FiOS TV connections at the end of March. Overall, average revenue per unit for wireline services was $90.55 in the first quarter 2011, up 10.5% from a year earlier, driven by FiOS -- which has ARPU of more than $146. "FiOS net addition results were closely in-line with expectations. But expansion of the footprint is slowing dramatically," Sanford Bernstein senior analyst Craig Moffett wrote in a research note. "Homes open for sale expanded by 9.6%, but based on their public comments, it is likely that homes passed are now barely growing... The question from here is whether growth can be sustained after the available footprint has reached full maturity." Nevertheless, Verizon is now a significant player in the pay-TV industry, bigger than Cablevision Systems, which has 3.3 million basic video customers.