Verizon raises 2026 forecast and signs $2bn AI deal with AWS

Verizon raised its forecasts for 2026 on Monday after a strong quarter for new phone customers. It also announced a deal worth more than $2bn with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to support AI workloads.

Under the AWS agreement, Verizon will provide high-capacity network connections and help add computing power spread across many sites. The deal is aimed at generative and agentic AI, which can carry out tasks on its own.

The deal follows a Verizon agreement in July worth more than $1bn to connect Google’s data centres over unused fibre.

In the three months to September, Verizon added 406,000 postpaid phone subscribers, people who pay a bill each month. Analysts had expected about 209,000, according to Reuters, citing Visible Alpha data.

As a result, Verizon now expects 1.1 million to 1.2 million new postpaid phone customers this year. Before, it had aimed for the top half of a range from 750,000 to 1 million.

The company also lifted its adjusted earnings forecast to $5.04 to $5.06 a share. It now expects free cash flow to grow by almost 12%.

Revenue rose 1.5% to $34.3bn, short of the $34.74bn analysts expected, according to LSEG data cited by Reuters. Fewer customers upgraded their phones after Verizon cut device discounts, Reuters reported.

Profit was stronger. Net income rose 5.2% to $5.3bn. Adjusted earnings per share grew 8.3% to $1.31, and free cash flow rose 12.1% to $7.8bn.

Verizon kept its plan to spend $16bn to $16.5bn on its network and other assets this year.

“We are continuing to raise the bar, and we are only one year into a multi-year growth story,” said chief executive Dan Schulman.

Schulman has restructured the company since taking over about a year ago. In June, Verizon also launched simpler phone plans with clearer pricing.

Verizon shares rose 2.4% before the market opened. Elsewhere, demand for computing capacity has driven other large AI data-centre deals this year.