Verizon chief Ivan Seidenberg quipped to investors last month that worrying about access line losses is “like the dog chasing the bus”. A statement that would have been almost blasphemous coming from the chief of a Bell System successor earlier this decade is now conventional wisdom in the telecommunications business, as highlighted by Verizon’s quarterly results. A 10th of access lines were disconnected compared with a year ago and the overall wireline business earned margins just half those of Verizon Wireless.

It may be an afterthought compared with wireless, but wireline shrank enough to outweigh decent results elsewhere. In spite of headlines proclaiming revenue growth, Verizon’s top line actually shrank slightly on an organic basis (once the Alltel acquisition and Vodafone’s minority interest in the wireless business are accounted for). Though it reclaimed the top spot in the US wireless market with the Alltel deal, Verizon’s subscriber growth has slowed and continues to lag AT&T. Net wireless subscriber additions of 1.2m in the quarter badly lagged behind its slightly smaller rival’s iPhone-fuelled 2m. Verizon also continued to trail AT&T in key metrics such as customer churn and average revenue per post-paid user.