From CNET: For Verizon, no news is bad news when it comes to customer growth.
After a flurry of promotional activity in 2017, which saw the return of unlimited data plans in a big way, as well as media bundles like free Netflix for T-Mobile subscribers and HBO Go thrown into AT&T wireless plans, US wireless carriers backed down with fewer discounts or freebies in the first three months of 2018.
Verizon, the nation's largest wireless carrier, took a hit from the inactivity, posting a loss of 24,000 phone customers and 75,000 tablet customers.
In total, Verizon added 260,000 net retail postpaid customers -- those who pay at the end of the month -- in the first quarter of the year, helped by a gain in connected devices such as wearables (think Apple Watch). The company did add 220,000 smartphone customers, suggesting a steep drop-off in basic phone customers.
Verizon has a few headaches to deal with. On Friday, the New York Times reported that the Justice Department is investigating whether Verizon, rival AT&T (which reports its own earnings on Wednesday) and trade group GSMA were colluding to make it more difficult for people to switch carriers by thwarting a technology called eSIM. An eSIM would have allowed people to switch carriers without the hassle of switching the tiny SIM cards in their phones.
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