Verizon’s profit fell 23% as the telecom giant is facing fewer than expected wireless subscribers in the third quarter and customers are moving to cheaper plans from rivals AT&T and T-Mobile.
Verizon said on Friday it lost 189,000 monthly phone subscribers in its consumer business after increasing charges in June.
The largest U.S. wireless carrier added 8,000 net new monthly subscribers in the quarter, too far from the Factset estimates of 35,400.
Shares fell 6% after the profit drop was reported to their lowest in over a decade.
As AT&T is moving into its media businesses and T-Mobile completed its merger with Sprint, the wireless market is changing. Companies are struggling to keep their plans affordable before rising inflation, a situation that has affected mostly Verizon’s high-price plans.
Net income fell to $5 billion, prompting Verizon to announce a plan to reduce annual costs of between $2 billion and $3 billion by 2025.
The New York based company’s third-quarter revenue and profit beat Refinitiv estimates.
