Verizon Communications Inc. released its earnings report for Q3 of 2008. Revenue was $24.8 billion, up from $23.8 billion for Q3 of last year, more than a 4 percent increase. Net income also increased from $1.3 billion to $1.7 billion, a more than 31 percent increase. The sunny earnings results were credited as largely from increases in Verizon’s wireless and data customers and business.

Revenue for Verizon Wireless increased by almost 13 percent, from $11.3 billion to $12.7 billion, while net income was up nearly 14 percent, from $3.1 billion to $3.5 billion. Verizon Wireless is owned by Verizon and Britain's Vodafone Group Plc. Wireless data revenue increased by over 42 percent from the same period in 2007 to $2.8 billion. Verizon reported earnings per share of $0.66 for the third quarter, which met analysts’ expectations.

The customer base of Verizon Wireless increased by more than 11 percent to 68.8 million retail customers and 70.8 million total customers. This increase included the recent acquisition of Rural Cellular, which added another 630,000 customers for Verizon.

Verizon wireline revenue didn’t fare as well and decreased by about 2 percent. Wireline includes traditional land line service, wired broadband and Verizon Business. Wireline revenue was $12.2 billion. However, wireline data revenue was up nearly 15 percent over the third quarter of 2007 to $5.2 billion. Wireline data revenue is now almost 43 percent of Verizon’s wireline revenue.