Verizon Communications CEO Lowell McAdam today said the telecom operator is seeing strong adoption of 4G smartphones and tablets in the third quarter of 2014.

Speaking at an investor conference, Verizon CEO said: “Retail postpaid net additions are more than 40 percent higher in the quarter-to-date than a year ago.”

In third quarter of 2013, Verizon reported 927,000 retail postpaid net additions. The percentage of customers choosing the Verizon Edge early-upgrade plan so far in third-quarter 2014 is similar to the rate in first-quarter 2014, which was approximately 12 percent of total phone activations.

Verizon expects strong customer growth and low Edge adoption rate this quarter. In second-quarter 2014, Verizon reported a wireless segment EBITDA service margin of 50.3 percent.

In wireline, FiOS continues to drive consumer revenue growth, while enterprise and wholesale growth remain under pressure.

Though Verizon has made progress in expanding the wireline segment EBITDA margin in the first half of 2014, the company expects some quarter-to-quarter fluctuations due to seasonality and the timing of non-recurring billings and costs.

Verizon reiterated that the company remains on track to achieve full-year expansion of the wireline segment EBITDA margin.

Baburajan K
[email protected]