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