4Q10 U-Verse vs. FiOS

AT&T and Verizon Report Steady Growth in U-Verse and FiOS

AT&T (NYSE:T) and Verizon (NYSE:VZ) have been reporting strong growth in video connections during recent quarters, largely as a result of the companies’ U-Verse and FiOS offerings.  AT&T’s U-Verse added between 200k-300k subs in every quarter of 2010 (248k in 4Q10 alone) and is growing at 44.7% annually.  Verizon’s FiOS has been growing somewhat more slowly than rival U-Verse (adding 197k during 4Q10), partially as a result of Verizon’s sale of lines to Frontier (NYSE:FTR) back on July 1, 2010.  Still, FiOS maintains a nearly 1.1m customer lead over U-Verse, ending 4Q10 with approximately 4.1m subs and reporting 18.9% year over year growth.