By Harshita Mary Varghese Jan 30 (Reuters) – Verizon forecast annual profit and free cash flow above market expectations on Friday, after aggressive promotions during peak holiday period fueled its highest quarterly wireless subscriber additions in six years. Shares of the U.S. wireless carrier jumped 9% after the company unveiled a share repurchase program of up to $25 billion over the next three years, including at least $3 billion this year. In the fourth quarter, telecom operators often rely on device promotions and bundled plans to poach customers looking to switch carriers amid peak phone-buying during Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. Verizon's promos, such as four phone lines for $100 per month, resonated with users, helping it add 616,000 monthly bill-paying wireless phone subscribers in the last three months of 2025. That trounced 417,250 additions expected, according to FactSet. Verizon is focusing on wireless and broadband convergence to fuel subscriber growth this year as its fiber assets got a boost from the Frontier acquisition. "With the closing of the Frontier acquisition just last week, Verizon has grown its fiber footprint to almost the size of AT&T's," analysts at MoffettNathanson said. Fiber infrastructure has become a key driver of wireless subscriber growth as carriers compete on bundled offerings that combine mobile service with high-speed home internet. "Verizon will no longer be a hunting ground for our competitors," CEO Dan Schulman said. Since taking over as CEO in October, Schulman has been working to make Verizon leaner and last announced more than 13,000 job cuts to shrink costs and restructure operations. Verizon expects to add between 750,000 to 1 million retail postpaid phone subscribers this year, compared with 362,000 additions in 2025. The company sees adjusted profit for 2026 between $4.90 and $4.95 per share compared with estimates of $4.76, according to data compiled by LSEG. Annual free cash flow is expected to be at least $21.5 billion, above expectations for $20.96 billion, according to Visible Alpha. (Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
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