Verizon Cites Strong Demand for FWA

Verizon Communications added 393,000 fixed wireless connections in the first quarter of 2023, up from 379,000 in the prior quarter.

Hans Vestberg, CEO of Verizon, told investors that broadband is a major growth area for the company across the consumer and business segments. "We achieved the highest net adds in over 10 years, adding 437,000 total net adds within the quarter, including 67,000 net adds from Fios (fibre-to-the-building). We are very pleased with the Fios performance with net adds up 12% year-over-year. For fixed wireless access (FWA), we're seeing growth quarter after quarter after quarter with 1.9 million subscribers at the end of the first quarter, fixed wireless continues to scale and contribute increasingly to our revenue performance.

"Our business customers are increasingly turning to fixed wireless access as their primary source of broadband connectivity. Won over by the reliability and the overall value of the product. In addition to taking share from our competitors, we're also seeing new use cases across all of our customer groups leveraging the flexibility of the product to expand beyond what traditional wired broadband can do." Source: Verizon earnings transcript

Google's Advertising Business Feels the Heat

Alphabet, Google's parent company, said its revenues rose 6% year-on-year on a constant currency basis in the first quarter of 2023 to 69.8 billion US dollars. Strong growth in its cloud business offset declines in Google Network advertising and YouTube ad revenues. The Google Network, which includes revenues generated on Google Network properties participating in AdMob, AdSense, and Google Ad Manager, had a particularly weak quarter with revenues declining more than 8% source: Alphabet statement

China Mobile's ARPU Under Pressure

China Mobile reported a 10% year-on-year rise in revenue for the first quarter of 2023 to 250.7 billion yuan (35 billion US dollars), but mobile ARPU rose only slightly and wireline ARPU fell. Source: China Mobile results

Signs of Slowdown for Tesla

Tesla reported that it produced 440,000 vehicles and delivered 422,000 vehicles in the first quarter of 2023.  In the fourth quarter of 2022, it produced 439,000 vehicles and delivered 405,000 vehicles. That represents a marked slowdown from 2022, when vehicle deliveries grew 40% to 1.31 million.

In 2022, total revenue grew 51% year-on-year to 81.5 billion US dollars.  Tesla said in January that it had released its Full Self Driving beta software to the 400,000 customers who had bought it.  Tesla is hopeful that the successful deployment of self-driving systems will dramatically increase the value of its vehicles to buyers.

There are also signs that the energy storage business is beginning to come of age - deployments increased by 152% year-on-year, for a total deployment of 6.5 GWh in 2022. Tesla said demand for its storage products remains in excess of its ability to supply. It is ramping up production at its dedicated 40 GWh Megapack factory in Lathrop, California.

The solar panel capacity installed by Tesla in 2022 increased by just 1% to 348 MW. 

Sources: Tesla collateral

Waymo Passes One Million Milestone

Waymo, Alphabet's self-driving car unit, said it has exceeded one million miles on public roads with no human behind the wheel.  Waymo said these miles were driven across multiple U.S. cities, including the densest parts of San Francisco and Phoenix, where it is now serving riders around the clock. 

During these first one million miles, Waymo said there were no reported injuries, and only two collisions that met the criteria for inclusion in NHTSA’s database for car crashes, called Crash Investigation Sampling System.  In the more severe of the two collisions, a Waymo vehicle was hit from behind by another car whose driver was looking at their cell phone while approaching a red light.

Waymo said none of the collisions or contact events happened at intersections, where most injury-causing and fatal collisions usually take place, nor involved vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists.

"The results we’ve shared today, in combination with our previously reported data, fatal crash reconstruction, and collision avoidance testing studies, underscore the Waymo Driver’s ability to reduce injuries and fatalities on the road," Waymo said.  Source: Waymo statement

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Telefónica Sees Steady Growth Ahead

Telefónica forecast it will achieve low single digit revenue organic growth in 2023, after reporting organic revenue growth of 4% for 2022. Its total revenue, including its 50% share in the Virgin Media O2 joint venture, in 2022 was almost 46 billion euros. Source: Telefónica collateral

Deutsche Telekom Shrugs Off Unsteady Conditions

 

Deutsche Telekom reported a 3.7% organic increase in service revenue for 2022 despite "unsteady conditions". Its total revenue climbed 6.1% to 114.4 billion euros, as it continued to add customers on both sides of the Atlantic. Source: Deutsche Telekom statement

Vodafone Tripped Up By Europe

Vodafone reported organic service revenue growth of 1.8% in the quarter ending December 31, compared with 2.5% in the previous quarter. It blamed declines in Germany, Italy and Spain, as well as lower roaming growth and "phasing of business revenue" in the previous fiscal year. Source: Vodafone collateral