Verizon CEO Dan Schulman used his first quarterly earnings call to thanks his predecessor Hans Vestberg but also pointed to a new direction for the telecom operator that will lean heavily on broadband initiatives instigated by the former CEO.

Schulman was named Verizon CEO earlier this month, coming from his previous seven years on the company’s board to take over for Vestberg, who was abruptly let go after serving seven years as CEO and a previous stint as CTO. Schulman in his prepared remarks thanked Vestberg for his “leadership and passion” in leading the carrier and pointed to technology decisions that were put in place during his tenure.

A big part of those was tied to broadband, including an initial push into Verizon’s 5G-based fixed-wireless access service and more recent expansion of its fiber-based broadband efforts. Those efforts continued to bear fruit to varying degrees during the third quarter, with FWA posting a modest 261,000 net connection additions, while Verizon’s FiOS fiber service attracted 61,000 new connections, which was its highest growth quarter in two years.

Verizon’s FWA growth paled in comparison to those posted by rivals AT&T and T-Mobile US.

Schulman noted that Verizon would continue investing in those broadband efforts, including its pending $20 billion purchase of Frontier Communications that was initiated under Vestberg’s watch and a more recent agreement with Tillman affiliate Eaton Fiber to expand fiber services outside of Verizon’s core markets.

On the wireless side, Verizon also recently announced plans to acquire fixed-wireless broadband provider Starry in a move to expand the carrier’s multidwelling unit (MDU) aspirations. Vestberg had previously noted that the carrier’s MDU business was “going to start scaling even more in the second half” of this year, though he added it would “be a bigger contributor in [2026] than in [2025].”

Verizon CFO Tony Skiadas highlighted the importance of the carrier’s broadband focus, noting that 18% of its consumer postpaid phone base were also signed up or a converged offering at the end of the quarter, which is a 200-basis point improvement from the same quarter in 2024. More importantly, those customers are significantly less likely to churn.

“When you combine mobility with fiber, you see churn rates that are almost 40% less than what we see with our traditional mobility,” Schulman said of that impact. “Thinking innovatively about how we bundle together broadband writ large, and that includes fixed-wireless and fiber with our mobility to drive both incremental broadband revenues as well as incremental mobility revenues, will definitely be on the plate. So expect us to continue to invest in our broadband footprint, in our fiber footprint, as well as our fixed-wireless as well.”

Vestberg had previously stated that the carrier would look to tap a $2 billion tax windfall to help expand its broadband business.

AI in, something else out?

Schulman also noted a bigger focus on using AI to power his plans in overhauling Verizon’s operations.

“We have barely scratched the surface of how AI powered innovation can transform our customer experience,” Schulman said during his prepared remarks. “I intend to use AI as a key tool simplify offers, improve the customer experience, and reduce churn through smart, consistent, and more personalized marketing and offers, and we will leverage AI throughout the company to make it easier for our employees to delight our customers and to dramatically improve service while reducing costs.”

Schulman later said that Verizon will continue to look at ways to monetize its network resources in support of AI traffic demands. That was also an avenue Vestberg had touted in recent months.

“Clearly, AI infrastructure is booming, and we can be a part of that, and should be a part of that,” Schulman said.

However, Schulman’s AI enthusiasm was quickly countered by his stating that there would also be parts of the Verizon business that could be cut.

“We have parts of our business that are costing us billions of dollars of margin and I think we can think much more clearly about how do we invest in growth areas and divest or exit those that are not that for us and are actually hemorrhaging margins for us,” Schulman said, before adding ominously, “you can probably imagine what we're thinking about and talking about on that.”