UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark one)
☒	ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023

OR

☐	TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
	For the transition period from         to

Commission file number: 1-8606

Verizon Communications Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Delaware		23-2259884
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)		(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)
1095 Avenue of the Americas
New York,	New York	10036
(Address of principal executive offices)		(Zip Code)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (212) 395-1000

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Title of Each Class	Trading Symbol(s)	Name of Each Exchange on Which Registered
Common Stock, par value $0.10	VZ	New York Stock Exchange
Common Stock, par value $0.10	VZ	The Nasdaq Global Select Market
1.625% Notes due 2024	VZ 24B	New York Stock Exchange
4.073% Notes due 2024	VZ 24C	New York Stock Exchange
0.875% Notes due 2025	VZ 25	New York Stock Exchange
3.25% Notes due 2026	VZ 26	New York Stock Exchange
1.375% Notes due 2026	VZ 26B	New York Stock Exchange
0.875% Notes due 2027	VZ 27E	New York Stock Exchange
1.375% Notes due 2028	VZ 28	New York Stock Exchange
1.125% Notes due 2028	VZ 28A	New York Stock Exchange
2.350% Fixed Rate Notes due 2028	VZ 28C	New York Stock Exchange
1.875% Notes due 2029	VZ 29B	New York Stock Exchange
0.375% Notes due 2029	VZ 29D	New York Stock Exchange
1.250% Notes due 2030	VZ 30	New York Stock Exchange
1.875% Notes due 2030	VZ 30A	New York Stock Exchange
4.250% Notes due 2030	VZ 30D	New York Stock Exchange
2.625% Notes due 2031	VZ 31	New York Stock Exchange
2.500% Notes due 2031	VZ 31A	New York Stock Exchange
3.000% Fixed Rate Notes due 2031	VZ 31D	New York Stock Exchange
0.875% Notes due 2032	VZ 32	New York Stock Exchange
0.750% Notes due 2032	VZ 32A	New York Stock Exchange
1.300% Notes due 2033	VZ 33B	New York Stock Exchange
4.75% Notes due 2034	VZ 34	New York Stock Exchange
4.750% Notes due 2034	VZ 34C	New York Stock Exchange
3.125% Notes due 2035	VZ 35	New York Stock Exchange
1.125% Notes due 2035	VZ 35A	New York Stock Exchange

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act (continued):
Title of Each Class	Trading Symbol(s)	Name of Each Exchange on Which Registered
3.375% Notes due 2036	VZ 36A	New York Stock Exchange
2.875% Notes due 2038	VZ 38B	New York Stock Exchange
1.875% Notes due 2038	VZ 38C	New York Stock Exchange
1.500% Notes due 2039	VZ 39C	New York Stock Exchange
3.50% Fixed Rate Notes due 2039	VZ 39D	New York Stock Exchange
1.850% Notes due 2040	VZ 40	New York Stock Exchange
3.850% Fixed Rate Notes due 2041	VZ 41C	New York Stock Exchange

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.  ☒  Yes   ☐  No

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. ☐  Yes   ☒  No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. ☒  Yes   ☐  No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). ☒  Yes   ☐  No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of "large accelerated filer," "accelerated filer," "smaller reporting company," and "emerging growth company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

Large accelerated filer	☒	Accelerated filer	☐
Non-accelerated filer	☐	Smaller reporting company	☐
		Emerging growth company	☐

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☒

If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b). ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). ☐  Yes   ☒  No

At June 30, 2023, the aggregate market value of the registrant’s voting stock held by non-affiliates was approximately $156.3 billion.

At January 31, 2024, 4,204,272,443 shares of the registrant’s common stock were outstanding, after deducting 87,161,203 shares held in treasury.

Documents Incorporated By Reference:

Portions of the registrant’s definitive Proxy Statement to be delivered to shareholders in connection with the registrant’s 2024 Annual Meeting of Shareholders (Part III).

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Item No.		Page
PART I
Item 1.	Business	4
Item 1A.	Risk Factors	13
Item 1B.	Unresolved Staff Comments	18
Item 1C.	Cybersecurity	18
Item 2.	Properties	20
Item 3.	Legal Proceedings	20
Item 4.	Mine Safety Disclosures	20
PART II
Item 5.	Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities	21
Item 6.	[Reserved]	21
Item 7.	Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations	22
Item 7A.	Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk	47
Item 8.	Financial Statements and Supplementary Data	50
Item 9.	Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure	104
Item 9A.	Controls and Procedures	104
Item 9B.	Other Information	105
Item 9C.	Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections	105
PART III
Item 10.	Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance	105
Item 11.	Executive Compensation	105
Item 12.	Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters	106
Item 13.	Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence	106
Item 14.	Principal Accounting Fees and Services	106
PART IV
Item 15.	Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules	107
Item 16.	Form 10-K Summary	111
Signatures		111
Certifications

PART I

Item 1.    Business

General

Verizon Communications Inc. (the Company) is a holding company that, acting through its subsidiaries (together with the Company, collectively, Verizon), is one of the world’s leading providers of communications, technology, information and entertainment products and services to consumers, businesses and government entities. With a presence around the world, we offer data, video and voice services and solutions on our networks and platforms that are designed to meet customers’ demand for mobility, reliable network connectivity and security.

Our principal executive offices are located at 1095 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10036 (telephone number 212-395-1000).

We have two reportable segments that we operate and manage as strategic business units - Verizon Consumer Group (Consumer) and Verizon Business Group (Business).

Verizon Consumer Group

Our Consumer segment provides consumer-focused wireless and wireline communications services and products. Our wireless services are provided across one of the most extensive wireless networks in the United States (U.S.) under the Verizon family of brands and through wholesale and other arrangements. We also provide fixed wireless access (FWA) broadband through our fifth-generation (5G) or fourth-generation (4G) Long-Term Evolution (LTE) networks as an alternative to traditional landline internet access. Our wireline services are provided in nine states in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern U.S., as well as Washington D.C., over our 100% fiber-optic network through our Verizon Fios product portfolio and over a traditional copper-based network to customers who are not served by Fios.

In 2023, the Consumer segment’s revenues were $101.6 billion, representing approximately 76% of Verizon’s consolidated revenues. As of December 31, 2023, Consumer had approximately 115 million wireless retail connections (including FWA), of which 82% are postpaid connections. In addition, at December 31, 2023, Consumer had approximately 9 million total broadband connections (which includes Fios internet, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) and FWA connections), and approximately 3 million Fios video connections.

Verizon Business Group

Our Business segment provides wireless and wireline communications services and products, including FWA broadband, data, video and conferencing services, corporate networking solutions, security and managed network services, local and long distance voice services and network access to deliver various Internet of Things (IoT) services and products. We provide these products and services to businesses, government customers and wireless and wireline carriers across the U.S. and a subset of these products and services to customers around the world.

In 2023, the Business segment's revenues were $30.1 billion, representing approximately 22% of Verizon’s consolidated revenues. As of December 31, 2023, Business had approximately 30 million wireless retail postpaid connections (including FWA) and approximately 2 million total broadband connections (which includes Fios internet, DSL and FWA connections).

Additional discussion of our reportable segments is included in Item 7. under the headings "Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Overview" and "— Segment Results of Operations" and in Note 13 to the consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report.

Service and Product Offerings

Our Consumer segment's wireless and wireline products and services are available to our retail customers, as well as resellers that purchase wireless network access from us on a wholesale basis. Our Business segment’s wireless and wireline products and services are organized by the primary customer groups targeted by these offerings: Enterprise and Public Sector, Business Markets and Other, and Wholesale.

Wireless

We offer wireless services and equipment to both Consumer customers and Business customers.

Wireless Services

Our Consumer and Business segments provide a wide variety of wireless services accessible on a broad range of devices. Customers can obtain our wireless services on a postpaid or prepaid basis. Retail (non-wholesale) postpaid accounts primarily represent retail customers that are directly served and managed by Verizon and use Verizon branded services. A single account

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may include monthly wireless services for a variety of connected devices. Our postpaid service is generally billed one month in advance for a monthly access charge in return for access to and usage of network services. Our prepaid service is offered only to Consumer customers and enables individuals to obtain wireless services without credit verification by paying for all services in advance. As of December 31, 2023, we had 94 million postpaid connections and 21 million prepaid connections, representing approximately 82% and 18% of our Consumer wireless retail connections, respectively.

Access to the internet is available on all smartphones and nearly all basic phones. In addition, our customers can access the internet at broadband speeds on notebook computers, tablets and smartwatches that are either wireless-enabled or that are used in conjunction with separate dedicated devices that provide a mobile Wi-Fi connection.

Historically, customers on our fixed-term service plans paid higher access fees for their wireless service in exchange for the ability to purchase their wireless devices at subsidized prices. We no longer offer Consumer customers new fixed-term, subsidized service plans for devices; however, we continue to offer subsidized plans to our Business customers.

We also provide FWA broadband through our 5G or 4G LTE wireless networks to our Consumer and Business customers. FWA enables fixed broadband access using radio frequencies instead of cables and can be used to connect homes and businesses to the internet. As of December 31, 2023, we had approximately 3.1 million FWA broadband connections.

Wireless Equipment

Consumer and Business offer several categories of wireless equipment to customers, including a variety of smartphones and other handsets, wireless-enabled internet devices, such as tablets, and other wireless-enabled connected devices, such as smart watches. We permit customers to acquire equipment from us using device payment plans, which permit the customer to pay for the device in installments over time.

Verizon Consumer Group

In addition to the wireless services and equipment discussed above, the Consumer segment sells residential fixed connectivity solutions, including internet, video and voice services, and wireless network access to resellers on a wholesale basis. Consumer also provides non-connectivity services including device protection, content offerings, cloud storage, and other products.

Residential Fixed Services. We provide residential fixed connectivity solutions to customers over our 100% fiber-optic network through our Verizon Fios product portfolio and over a traditional copper-based network to customers who are not served by Fios. In addition, we provide FWA broadband through both 5G and our LTE Home Internet offerings, which are available in most states across the U.S.

We offer residential fixed services tailored to the needs of our customers. Depending on those needs at a particular time, our services may include features related to, among other things: internet access at different speed tiers using fiber-optic, copper or wireless technology; video services that may feature a variety of channel options, video on demand products, cloud-based services and digital video recording capabilities; over-the-top (OTT) video services; voice services; and other home solutions.

Network Access Services. We sell network access to mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) on a wholesale basis, who in turn resell wireless service under their own brand(s) to consumers.

Verizon Business Group

In addition to the wireless services and equipment discussed above, our Business segment provides wireless and wireline communications services and products, including data, video and conferencing services, corporate networking solutions, security and managed network services, local and long distance voice services and network access to deliver various IoT services and products.

Enterprise and Public Sector

Enterprise and Public Sector offers wireless products and services as well as wireline connectivity and managed solutions to our large business and government customers. Large businesses are identified based on their size and volume of business with Verizon. Public sector offers these services with features and pricing designed to address the needs of U.S. federal, state and local governments and educational institutions. In 2023, Enterprise and Public Sector revenues were $15.1 billion, representing approximately 50% of Business’s total revenues.

Enterprise and Public Sector offers a broad portfolio of connectivity, security and professional services designed to enable our customers to optimize their business operations, mitigate business risks and capitalize on data. These services include the following:

•Network Services. We offer a portfolio of network connectivity products to help our customers connect with their employees, partners, vendors and customers. These products include private networking services, private cloud connectivity services, virtual and software defined networking services and internet access services.

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•Advanced Communications Services. We offer a suite of services to our customers to help them communicate with their employees, partners, vendors, constituents and customers. These products include Internet Protocol (IP)-based voice and video services, unified communications and collaboration tools and customer contact center solutions.

•Security services. We offer a suite of management and data security services that help our customers protect, detect and respond to security threats to their networks, data, applications and infrastructure.

•Core services. We provide a portfolio of domestic and global voice and data solutions utilizing traditional telecommunications technology, including voice calling, messaging services, conferencing, contact center solutions and private line and data access networks. Core services also include the provision of customer premises equipment, and installation, maintenance and site services.

•IoT services. We provide the network access required to deliver various IoT products and services. We work with companies that purchase network access from us to connect their devices, bundled together with their own solutions, which they sell to end users. We are building IoT capabilities by leveraging business models that monetize usage on our networks at the connectivity, platform and solution layers.

Business Markets and Other

Business Markets and Other offers wireless services and equipment, conferencing services, tailored voice and networking products, Fios services, advanced voice solutions and security services to businesses that ordinarily do not meet the requirements to be categorized as Enterprise and Public Sector, as described above. Business Markets and Other also includes solutions that support mobile resource management. In 2023, Business Markets and Other revenues were $12.7 billion, representing approximately 42% of Business’s total revenues.

In addition to the wireless services and equipment discussed above, Business Markets and Other provides fixed connectivity solutions comparable to the residential fixed services provided by Consumer, as well as business services and connectivity similar to the products and services offered by Global Enterprise, in each case with features and pricing designed to address the needs of small and medium businesses.

Wholesale

Wholesale offers wireline communications services including data, voice, local dial tone and broadband services primarily to local, long distance, and wireless carriers that use our facilities to provide services to their customers. In 2023, Wholesale revenues were $2.3 billion, representing approximately 8% of Business’s total revenues. A portion of Wholesale revenues are generated by a few large telecommunications companies, most of which compete directly with us. Wholesale's services include:

•Data services. We offer a portfolio of data services to enhance our Wholesale customers’ networks and provide connections to their end users and subscribers.

•Voice services. We provide switched access services that allow carriers to complete their end-user calls that originate or terminate within our territory. In addition, we provide originating and terminating voice services throughout the U.S. and globally utilizing our time-division multiplexing and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) networks.

•Local services. We offer an array of local dial tone and broadband services to competitive local exchange carriers, some of which are offered to comply with telecommunications regulations. In addition, we offer services such as colocation, resale and unbundled network elements in compliance with applicable regulations.

Distribution

We use a combination of direct, indirect and alternative distribution channels to market and distribute our products and services to Consumer and Business customers.

Our direct channel, including our company-operated stores, is a core component of our distribution strategy. Our sales and service centers and business direct sales teams also represent significant distribution channels for our services. In addition, we have a robust digital channel and omni-channel as a part of the customer experience in order to offer choice and convenience.

Our indirect channel includes agents that sell our wireless and wireline products and services at retail locations throughout the U.S., as well as through the internet. The majority of these sales are made under exclusive selling arrangements with us. We also have relationships with high-profile national retailers that sell our wireless and wireline products and services, as well as convenience store chains that sell our wireless prepaid products and services.

In addition to our direct channel, our Business segment has additional distribution channels that include business solution fulfillment provided by resellers, non-stocked device fulfillment performed by distributors and integrated mobility services provided by system integrators and resellers.

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Global Network and Technology

Our global network architecture is used by Consumer and Business. Our network technology platforms include both wireless and wireline technologies.

Network Evolution

We are transforming the architecture of our networks into our next-generation multi-use platform, which we call the Intelligent Edge Network. This technology enhances applications by hosting them at the end of the network, closer to devices and end points, which lowers response time and boosts performance.

We expect that this new architecture will simplify operations by eliminating legacy network elements, speed the deployment of 5G wireless technology and create new opportunities in the business market in a cost-efficient manner.

5G

Over the past several years, we have been leading the development of 5G wireless technology industry standards and the ecosystems for fixed and mobile 5G wireless services. 5G technology enables higher throughput and lower latency than 4G LTE technology and allows our networks to handle more traffic as the number of internet-connected devices grows.

We provide high quality 5G wireless service utilizing millimeter wave and C-Band spectrum. Other licensed spectrum bands are used to support our 5G service. In January 2022, we began rapidly deploying our C-Band spectrum, which, as of December 31, 2023, covers approximately 242 million people in the U.S. We obtained full access to our C-Band spectrum in August 2023 and will continue deploying this spectrum across the continental U.S. Our FWA broadband services also leverage the 5G network and our expanding C-Band footprint, in addition to our 4G FWA offerings.

4G LTE

The wireless network technology platform that carries about half of our wireless traffic is 4G LTE. As of December 31, 2023, our 4G LTE network covers approximately 330 million people, excluding those in areas served by our LTE in Rural America partners. Under this program, we have collaborated with wireless carriers in rural areas to build and operate a 4G LTE network using each carrier’s network assets with our core 4G LTE equipment and 700 Megahertz (MHz) C Block and Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) spectrum. LTE Home Internet, our home broadband internet service leverages the Verizon 4G LTE network.

Wireless Network Reliability and Build-Out

We consider the reliability, speed, capacity and coverage of our wireless network to be key factors for our continued success. We believe that steady and consistent network and platform investments provide the foundation for innovative products and services. As we design and deploy our network, we focus on the number of successful data sessions the network enables, delivering on our advertised throughput speeds, and the number of calls that are connected on the first attempt and completed without being dropped. We utilize three strategies to maintain the quality of our network: increasing the density of our network elements, deploying new technologies as they are developed and putting additional wireless spectrum into service.

We are densifying our networks by utilizing macro and small cell technology, in-building solutions and distributed antenna systems. Network densification enables us to add capacity to address increasing mobile video consumption and the growing demand for IoT products and services on our 4G LTE and 5G networks. We are also utilizing existing network capabilities to handle increased traffic without interrupting the quality of the customer experience. We continue to deploy advanced technologies to increase both network capacity and data rates.

In order to deploy our 5G network and build and upgrade our existing 4G LTE network, we must secure rights to a large number of sites and obtain zoning and other governmental approvals and fiber facilities for our macro and small cells, in-building systems and antennas and related radio equipment that comprise distributed antenna systems. We have relationships with a wide variety of vendors that supply various products and services that support our wireless network operations. We utilize tower site management firms as lessors or managers of a portion of our existing leased and owned tower sites.

Our networks in the U.S. include various elements of redundancy designed to enhance the reliability of the services provided to our customers. To mitigate the impact of power disruptions on our operations, we have battery backup at every switch and every macro cell. We also utilize backup generators at a majority of our macro cells and at every switch location. In addition, we have a fleet of portable backup generators that can be deployed if needed. We further enhance reliability by using a fully redundant Multiprotocol Label Switching backbone network in critical locations.

In addition to our own network coverage, we have roaming agreements with a number of wireless service providers to enable our customers to receive wireless service in nearly all other areas in the U.S. where wireless service is available. We also offer a variety of international wireless voice and data services to our customers through roaming arrangements with wireless service providers outside the U.S.

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Fios

Residential broadband service has seen significant growth in bandwidth demand over the past several years, and we believe that demand will continue to grow. We expect that the continued emergence of new video services, new data applications and the proliferation of IP devices in the home will continue to drive new network requirements for increased data speeds and throughput. We believe that the Passive Optical Network (PON) technology underpinning Fios positions us well to meet these demands in a cost-effective and efficient manner.

While deployed initially as a consumer broadband network, our PON infrastructure is also experiencing more widespread application in the Business segment, especially as businesses increasingly migrate to Ethernet-based access services.

Global IP

Verizon owns and operates one of the largest global fiber-optic networks in the world, providing connectivity to Business customers in more than 190 countries. Our global IP network includes long-haul, metro and submarine assets that enable and support international operations.

Global business is rapidly evolving to an "everything-as-a-service" model in which Business customers seek cloud-based, converged enterprise solutions delivered securely via managed and professional services. We are continuing to deploy packet optical transport technology in order to create a global network platform to meet this demand.

Spectrum

The spectrum licenses we hold can be used for mobile and fixed wireless voice, video and data communications services. We are licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to provide these wireless services on the following low and mid-band spectrum in areas that collectively cover nearly all of the population of the U.S.: (i) the 700 MHz Upper C block, (ii) Cellular spectrum (850 MHz), (iii) Personal Communication Services (PCS) spectrum (1900 MHz), (iv) AWS 1 and AWS 3 bands (1700 MHz uplink and 2100 MHz downlink), and (v) the 3.7 GHz band ("C-Band"). We also hold spectrum licenses in the 28, Upper 37 and 39 GHz bands, known as millimeter wave spectrum, and utilize both Priority Access Licenses (PALs) and General Authorized Access (GAA) in the 3.5 GHz band (Citizens Broadband Radio Service).

We use our low and mid-band spectrum to provide wireless services. Millimeter wave spectrum is currently used to provide, or increase capacity for, mobile and fixed wireless services in areas of high demand. We utilize DSS technology to allow 5G service to run simultaneously with 4G LTE on multiple spectrum bands. With DSS, whenever customers move outside Verizon’s millimeter wave and C-Band coverage areas, their 5G-enabled devices will remain on 5G technology using the lower spectrum bands where this network is available.

We anticipate that demand for spectrum will continue to increase over time, driven by growth in customer connections and the increased usage of wireless broadband services that use more bandwidth and require faster rates of speed, as well as the wider deployment of 5G mobile and fixed services. We expect to meet the demand for 4G and 5G spectrum needs with our existing spectrum assets. If demand continues to increase or if new spectrum is required for a future generation of technology, we can meet that demand by acquiring licenses or leasing spectrum from other licensees, or by acquiring new spectrum licenses from the FCC, if and when future FCC spectrum auctions occur.

From time to time we have exchanged spectrum licenses with other wireless service providers through secondary market swap transactions. We expect to continue to pursue similar opportunities to trade spectrum licenses in order to meet capacity and expansion needs in the future. We also gain access to spectrum through cross-lease transactions. In certain cases, we have entered into intra-market spectrum swaps designed to increase the amount of contiguous spectrum within frequency bands in a specific market. Contiguous spectrum improves network performance and efficiency. These swaps, as well as any spectrum purchases, require us to obtain governmental approvals.

Information regarding spectrum license transactions is included in Note 3 to the consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report.

Competition and Related Trends

The telecommunications industry is highly competitive. The rapid development of new technologies, services and products has eliminated many of the distinctions among wireless, cable, internet and traditional telephone services and brought new competitors to our markets. We expect competition to remain intense as traditional and non-traditional participants seek increased market share.

Competitive factors within the telecommunications industry include, among others, network reliability, speed, capacity and coverage; pricing; the quality of customer service; marketing, sales and distribution capabilities; development of new and enhanced products and services; ability to anticipate and respond to various factors and trends affecting our industry; the availability of capital resources; and regulatory changes.

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Competition remains intense as a result of various factors, including aggressive pricing, increased levels of promotions and service plan discounts, and offerings that include additional bundled premium content, in some cases specifically targeting Verizon customers. Competition may increase as smaller, stand-alone wireless service providers merge or transfer licenses to larger, better capitalized wireless service providers and as MVNOs resell wireless communication services. In addition, increasing government incentives related to network deployment may enhance the ability of certain of our competitors to compete with us.

With respect to our wireless connectivity products and services, we compete against other national wireless service providers, including AT&T Inc. and T-Mobile US, Inc., as well as various regional wireless service providers. We also compete for retail activations with resellers that buy bulk wholesale service from wireless service providers, including Verizon, and resell it to their customers. Resellers include cable companies, such as Comcast Corporation and Charter Communications, Inc., and others.

We also face competition from other communications and technology companies seeking to increase their brand recognition and capture market share with respect to the provision of wireless products and services, in addition to non-traditional offerings in mobile data. For example, Microsoft Corporation, Alphabet Inc., Apple Inc., Meta Platforms, Inc. and others are offering alternative means for messaging and making wireless voice calls that, in certain cases, can be used in lieu of the wireless providers' voice service, as well as alternative means of accessing video content. In addition, we expect to see increasing competition in the provisioning of internet access by low Earth orbit satellite companies as well in the area of fixed wireless offerings that provide an alternative to traditional landline internet service providers.

With respect to Fios and our other wireline connectivity services, we compete against cable companies, wireless service providers, domestic and foreign telecommunications providers, satellite television companies, internet service providers, OTT providers and other companies that offer network services and managed enterprise solutions. We also face increasing competition from other internet portal providers. We expect the market will continue to shift from traditional linear video to OTT offerings. We also expect customer migration from traditional voice services to wireless services to continue as a growing number of customers place greater value on mobility and wireless companies position their services as a landline alternative.

Companies with a global presence are increasingly competing with us in our Business segment. A relatively small number of telecommunications and integrated service providers with global operations serve customers in the global enterprise market and, to a lesser extent, the global wholesale market. We compete with these providers for large contracts to provide integrated solutions to global enterprises and government customers. Many of these companies have strong market presence, brand recognition and existing customer relationships, all of which contribute to intensifying competition that may affect our future revenue growth.

In the Enterprise and Public Sector markets, competition levels remain high, primarily as a result of increased industry focus on technology convergence. We compete in this area with system integrators, carriers, and hardware and software providers. In addition, some of the largest information technology services companies are making strategic acquisitions, divesting non-strategic assets and forging new alliances to improve their cost structure. Many new alliances and acquisitions have focused on emerging fields, such as cloud computing, software defined networking, communication applications and other computing tasks via networks, rather than by the use of in-house machines.

In the Business Markets and Other category, customer purchasing behaviors and preferences continue to evolve. Solution speed and simplicity are becoming key differentiators for customers who are seeking full life-cycle offers that simplify the process of starting, running and growing their businesses. Several major cable operators also offer bundles with wireless services through strategic relationships.

Our Wholesale business competes with traditional carriers for metro/mid/long-haul fiber, voice and IP services. In addition, mobile video and data needs are driving a greater need for wireless backhaul. Network providers, cable companies and specialty firms are competitors for this business opportunity.

Regulatory Trends

Regulatory Landscape

Verizon operates in a regulated and highly competitive market, as described above. Some of our competitors are subject to fewer regulatory constraints than Verizon. For many services offered by Verizon, the FCC is our primary regulator. The FCC has jurisdiction over interstate telecommunications services and other matters under the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (Communications Act). Other Verizon services are subject to state and local regulation.

Federal, State and Local Regulation

Wireless Services

The FCC regulates several aspects of our wireless operations. Generally, the FCC has jurisdiction over the construction, operation, acquisition and transfer of wireless communications systems. All wireless services require use of radio frequency spectrum, the assignment and distribution of which is subject to FCC oversight. If demand continues to increase or if new

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spectrum is required for a future generation of technology, we can meet our needs for licensed spectrum by purchasing licenses or leasing spectrum from others, or by participating in a competitive bidding process to acquire new spectrum from the FCC. Those processes are subject to certain reviews, approvals and potential conditions.

Today, Verizon holds FCC spectrum licenses that allow it to provide a wide range of mobile and fixed communications services, including both voice and data services. FCC spectrum licenses typically have a term of 10 years, at which time they are subject to renewal. While the FCC has routinely renewed all of Verizon’s wireless licenses, challenges could be raised in the future. If a wireless license was revoked or not renewed, Verizon would not be permitted to provide services on the spectrum covered by that license. Some of our licenses require us to comply with so-called "open access" FCC regulations, which generally require licensees of particular spectrum to allow customers to use devices and applications of their choice, subject to certain technical limitations. The FCC has also imposed certain specific mandates on wireless carriers, including construction and geographic coverage requirements, technical operating standards, provision of enhanced 911 services, roaming obligations and requirements for wireless tower and antenna facilities.

The Communications Act generally preempts regulation by state and local governments of the entry of, or the rates charged by, wireless carriers. It does not prohibit states from regulating the other "terms and conditions" of wireless service. For example, some states impose reporting and consumer protection requirements. Several states also have laws or regulations that address safety issues (for example, use of wireless handsets while driving), universal service funding, and taxation matters. Some states are also considering new network reliability or service quality requirements that may affect how and where we provide services if not preempted by federal law. In addition, wireless tower and antenna facilities are often subject to state and local zoning and land use regulation, and securing approvals for new or modified facilities is often a lengthy and expensive process.

Broadband

Verizon offers many different broadband services. In 2023, the FCC proposed to return to regulation of broadband services under Title II of the Communications Act. The proposal would revive and expand the FCC's 2015 approach (that was reversed in 2017) to regulating broadband internet access services as telecommunications services subject to utilities-style common carriage regulation. Several states have also adopted or are considering adopting laws or executive orders that would impose net neutrality and other requirements on some of our broadband services. The FCC also adopted broad rules related to "digital discrimination" that could further increase regulatory oversight of broadband services. Regardless of regulation, Verizon remains committed to the open internet, which provides consumers with competitive choices and unblocked access to lawful websites and content. Our broadband commitment can be found on our website at https://www.verizon.com/about/our-company/verizon-broadband-commitment.

Wireline Voice

Verizon offers many different wireline voice services, including traditional telephone service and other services that rely on technologies such as VoIP. For regulatory purposes, legacy telephone services are generally considered to be "common carrier" services. Common carrier services are subject to heightened regulatory oversight with respect to rates, terms and conditions and other aspects of the services. The FCC has not decided the regulatory classification of VoIP but has said VoIP service providers must comply with certain rules, such as 911 capabilities and law enforcement assistance requirements.

State public utility commissions regulate Verizon’s telephone operations with respect to certain telecommunications intrastate matters. Verizon operates as an "incumbent local exchange carrier" in nine states and the District of Columbia. These incumbent operations are subject to various levels of pricing flexibility and other state oversight and requirements. Verizon also has other wireline operations that are more lightly regulated. Some states, including California, impose reporting requirements and are considering new network reliability or service quality requirements for wireline voice services, including for VoIP.

Video

Verizon offers a multichannel video service that is regulated like traditional cable service. The FCC has a body of rules that apply to cable operators, and these rules also generally apply to Verizon. In areas where Verizon offers its facilities-based multichannel video services, Verizon has been required to obtain a cable franchise from local government entities, or in some cases a state-wide franchise, and comply with certain one-time and ongoing obligations as a result.

Privacy, Data Protection, and Artificial Intelligence

We are subject to local, state, federal, and international laws and regulations relating to privacy and data protection that impact all parts of our business, including wireline, wireless, broadband and the development and roll out of new products, such as those in the IoT space. At the federal level, our business is governed by the FCC or the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), depending on the product or service. The California Consumer Privacy Act, Europe's General Data Protection Regulation and a number of other privacy laws more recently adopted by other states and countries include significant penalties for non-compliance. Generally, attention to privacy and data security requirements is increasing at all levels of government globally, and privacy-related legislation has been introduced or is under consideration in many locations. These regulations could have a significant impact on our businesses. Policymakers at the local, state, federal and international levels are also considering imposing laws and regulations on the use of artificial intelligence. This is a nascent area of regulatory focus, so it is unclear how such regulation could impact our business.

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Public Safety and Cybersecurity

The FCC plays a role in addressing public safety concerns by regulating emergency communications services and mandating widespread availability of both media (broadcast/cable) and wireless emergency alerting services. In addition, federal and state agencies have mandated and may impose additional regulations to ensure continuity of service during disasters. For example, the FCC adopted rules requiring wireless providers to support roaming on each other’s networks during disasters, and the California Public Utilities Commission has imposed regulations relating to back-up power for communications facilities. In response to prior cyber attacks and increasing risks from cybersecurity threats, the FCC and other regulators are attempting to increase regulation of the cybersecurity practices of providers. The FCC is also addressing the use by American companies of equipment produced by certain companies deemed to cause potential national security risks. Verizon does not currently use equipment in its networks from vendors under such restrictions.

Intercarrier Compensation and Network Access

The FCC regulates some of the rates that carriers pay each other for the exchange of voice traffic (particularly traditional wireline traffic) over different networks and other aspects of interconnection for some voice services. The FCC also regulates some of the rates and terms and conditions for certain wireline "business data services" and other services and network facilities. Verizon is both a seller and a buyer of these services, and both makes and receives interconnection payments.

Human Capital Resources

With approximately 105,400 employees on a full-time equivalent basis as of December 31, 2023, 89% of whom are based in the U.S., we know that our people are one of our most valuable assets. In order to realize our core business strategy, we have developed human capital programs and practices that support, develop and care for our employees throughout their careers with Verizon. Our strategy to build a workforce with talent, skills and motivation to give the company a competitive edge now and into the future rests on three pillars:

•Attract and maintain a diverse workforce with the necessary skills and talent to execute on our business priorities.

•Develop our employees' potential by offering educational opportunities that keep pace with changes occurring across our industry.

•Inspire individuals to build a career at Verizon by providing meaningful work and opportunities for career advancement in a collaborative and inclusive environment.

Verizon strives to be an employer of choice by offering our employees competitive compensation and benefits packages. We seek to recruit and retain employees with diverse backgrounds, experiences and perspectives to best meet the needs of the diverse customers and communities we serve. We provide extensive on-the-job training opportunities, tuition reimbursement programs and career development support to enable our employees to maximize their potential and thrive professionally. Our long-standing commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion has resulted in a strong representation of women and people of color. As of December 31, 2023, Verizon's global workforce was approximately 68.0% male, 31.7% female and 0.3% unknown or undeclared, and the race/ethnicity of our U.S. workforce was 53.4% White, 18.5% Black, 13.2% Hispanic, 8.7% Asian, 0.4% American Indian/Alaskan Native, 0.3% Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, 2.5% two or more races, and 3.0% unknown or undeclared. Women represented 36.9% of U.S. senior leadership (vice president level and above). People of color represented 32.1% of U.S. senior leadership.

Verizon respects our employees’ rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining in compliance with applicable law, including the right to join or not join labor unions. We have a long history of working with the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers — the two unions that in total represent approximately 24.0% of our employees as of December 31, 2023. The current collective bargaining agreements covering our union-represented employees who serve customers in our Mid-Atlantic and Northeast service areas extend through August 1, 2026. In addition, where applicable outside of the U.S., we engage with employee representative bodies such as works council. Verizon meets with U.S. national and local union leaders, as well as works council leaders outside the U.S., to talk about key business topics, including safety, customer service, plans to improve operational processes, our business performance and the impacts that changing technology and competition are having on our customers, employees and business strategy.

For a discussion of Verizon's Board oversight of our human capital management practices, see the section entitled "Governance — Our governance framework — Oversight of human capital management" in our definitive Proxy Statement to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and delivered to shareholders in connection with our 2024 Annual Meeting of Shareholders.

Patents, Trademarks and Licenses

We own or have licenses to various patents, copyrights, trademarks, domain names and other intellectual property rights necessary to conduct our business. We actively pursue the filing and registration of patents, copyrights, trademarks and domain names to protect our intellectual property rights within the United States and abroad. We also actively grant licenses, in

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exchange for appropriate fees or other consideration and subject to appropriate safeguards and restrictions, to other companies that enable them to utilize certain of our intellectual property rights and proprietary technology as part of their products and services. Such licenses enable the licensees to take advantage of Verizon's brands and the results of Verizon’s research and development efforts. While these licenses result in valuable consideration for Verizon, we do not believe that the loss of such consideration, or the expiration of any of our intellectual property rights, would have a material effect on our results of operations.

We periodically receive offers from third parties to purchase or obtain licenses for patents and other intellectual property rights in exchange for royalties or other payments. We also periodically receive notices alleging that our products or services infringe on third-party patents or other intellectual property rights. These claims, whether against us directly or against third-party suppliers of products or services that we sell to our customers, if successful, could require us to pay damages or royalties, rebrand, or cease offering the relevant products or services.

Information About Our Executive Officers

See Part III, Item 10. "Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance" of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for information about our executive officers.

Information on Our Internet Website

We make available, free of charge on our website, our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and all amendments to those reports, at https://www.verizon.com/about/investors as soon as reasonably practicable after such reports are electronically filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These reports and other information are also available on the SEC's website at https://www.sec.gov. We periodically provide other information for investors on our website, including news and announcements regarding our financial performance, information on environmental, social and corporate governance matters, and details related to our annual meeting of shareholders. We encourage investors, the media, our customers, business partners and other stakeholders to review the information we post on this channel. Website references in this report are provided as a convenience and do not constitute, and should not be viewed as, incorporation by reference of the information contained on, or available through, the websites. Therefore, such information should not be considered part of this report.

Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

In this report we have made forward-looking statements. These statements are based on our estimates and assumptions and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements include the information concerning our possible or assumed future results of operations. Forward-looking statements also include those preceded or followed by the words "anticipates," "assumes," "believes," "estimates," "expects," "forecasts," "hopes," "intends," "plans," "targets" or similar expressions. For those statements, we claim the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We undertake no obligation to revise or publicly release the results of any revision to these forward-looking statements, except as required by law. Given these risks and uncertainties, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements.

The following important factors, along with those discussed elsewhere in this report and in other filings with the SEC, could affect future results and could cause those results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements:

•the effects of competition in the markets in which we operate, including the inability to successfully respond to competitive factors such as prices, promotional incentives and evolving consumer preferences;

•failure to take advantage of, or respond to competitors' use of, developments in technology and address changes in consumer demand;

•performance issues or delays in the deployment of our 5G network resulting in significant costs or a reduction in the anticipated benefits of the enhancement to our networks;

•the inability to implement our business strategy;

•adverse conditions in the U.S. and international economies, including inflation and changing interest rates in the markets in which we operate;

•cyber attacks impacting our networks or systems and any resulting financial or reputational impact;

•damage to our infrastructure or disruption of our operations from natural disasters, extreme weather conditions, acts of war, terrorist attacks or other hostile acts and any resulting financial or reputational impact;

•disruption of our key suppliers’ or vendors' provisioning of products or services, including as a result of geopolitical factors or the potential impacts of global climate change;

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•material adverse changes in labor matters and any resulting financial or operational impact;

•damage to our reputation or brands;

•the impact of public health crises on our operations, our employees and the ways in which our customers use our networks and other products and services;

•changes in the regulatory environment in which we operate, including any increase in restrictions on our ability to operate our networks or businesses;

•allegations regarding the release of hazardous materials or pollutants into the environment from our, or our predecessors', network assets and any related government investigations, regulatory developments, litigation, penalties and other liability, remediation and compliance costs, operational impacts or reputational damage;

•our high level of indebtedness;

•significant litigation and any resulting material expenses incurred in defending against lawsuits or paying awards or settlements;

•an adverse change in the ratings afforded our debt securities by nationally accredited ratings organizations or adverse conditions in the credit markets affecting the cost, including interest rates, and/or availability of further financing;

•significant increases in benefit plan costs or lower investment returns on plan assets;

•changes in tax laws or regulations, or in their interpretation; or challenges to our tax positions, resulting in additional tax expense or liabilities; and

•changes in accounting assumptions that regulatory agencies, including the SEC, may require or that result from changes in the accounting rules or their application, which could result in an impact on earnings.

Item 1A.    Risk Factors

The following discussion of "Risk Factors" identifies factors that may adversely affect our business, operations, financial condition or future performance. This information should be read in conjunction with "Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Result of Operations" and the consolidated financial statements and related notes. The following discussion of risks is not all-inclusive but is designed to highlight what we believe are the material factors to consider when evaluating our business and expectations. These factors could cause our future results to differ materially from our historical results and from expectations reflected in forward-looking statements.

Economic and Strategic Risks

We face significant competition that may reduce our profits.

We face significant competition in our industries. The rapid development of new technologies, services and products has eliminated many of the traditional distinctions among wireless, cable, internet and local and long distance communication services and brought new competitors to our markets, including other telecommunications companies, cable companies, wireless service providers, satellite providers, technology companies and application and device providers. While these changes have enabled us to offer new types of products and services, they have also allowed other providers to broaden the scope of their own competitive offerings. If we are unable to compete effectively, we could experience lower than expected revenues and earnings.

Wireless service providers are significantly altering the financial relationships with their customers through commercial offers that vary service and device pricing, promotions, incentives and levels of service provided – in some cases specifically targeting our customers and putting pressure on pricing and margins. In addition, we expect the wireless industry’s customer growth rate to moderate over time in comparison to historical growth rates, leading to increased competition for customers. Our ability to compete effectively will depend on, among other things, our network reliability, speed, capacity and coverage, the pricing of our products and services, the quality of our customer service, our development of new and enhanced products and services, the reach and quality of our sales and distribution channels, our ability to market our products and services effectively and our capital resources. It will also depend on how successfully we anticipate and respond to various factors affecting our industries, including regulatory changes, new technologies and business models, such as the increasing use of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies, changes in consumer preferences and demand for existing services, demographic trends and evolving economic conditions, including inflation. If we are not able to respond successfully to these competitive challenges, our results of operations and financial condition could be adversely impacted. In addition, a sustained decline in a reporting unit's revenues and earnings has resulted in the past, and may again result in the future, in a significant negative impact on its fair value requiring us to record an impairment charge, which could have an adverse impact on our results of operations.

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If we are not able to take advantage of developments in technology and address changing consumer demand on a timely basis, or if the deployment of our 5G network is delayed or hindered for any reason, we may experience a decline in the demand for our services, be unable to implement our business strategy and experience reduced profits.

Our industries are rapidly changing as new technologies are developed that offer consumers an array of choices for their communications needs and allow new entrants into the markets we serve. In order to grow and remain competitive, we will need to adapt to future changes in technology, enhance our existing offerings and introduce new offerings to address our customers’ changing demands. If we are unable to meet future challenges from competing technologies on a timely basis or at an acceptable cost, we could lose customers to our competitors. We may not be able to accurately predict technological trends or the success of new services in the market. If our new services fail to gain acceptance in the marketplace, or if costs associated with the implementation and introduction of these services materially increase, our ability to retain and attract customers could be adversely affected.

The deployment of our 5G network is subject to a variety of risks, including those related to equipment availability, unexpected costs, and regulatory matters that could cause deployment delays or network performance issues. In addition, certain use cases for 5G technologies and related ecosystems are still in early development stages and their ultimate adoption or success is uncertain. These issues could result in significant costs, put us at a competitive disadvantage, or reduce the anticipated benefits of the enhancements to our networks.

As we introduce new offerings and technologies, we expect to phase out outdated and unprofitable technologies and services. If we are unable to do so on a cost-effective basis, we could experience reduced profits. In addition, there could be legal or regulatory restraints on our ability to phase out current services.

Adverse conditions in the U.S. and international economies could impact our results of operations and financial condition.

Unfavorable economic conditions, such as a recession or economic slowdown in the U.S. or elsewhere, or inflation in the markets in which we operate, could negatively affect the affordability of and demand for some of our products and services and our cost of doing business. In difficult economic conditions, consumers may seek to reduce discretionary spending by forgoing purchases of our products, electing to use fewer higher margin services, dropping down in price plans or obtaining lower-cost products and services offered by other companies. Similarly, under these conditions, the business customers that we serve may delay purchasing decisions, delay full implementation of service offerings or reduce their use of services. In addition, adverse economic conditions may lead to an increased number of our consumer and business customers that are unable to pay for services. Unfavorable economic conditions could also amplify other risk factors discussed in this section, including, but not limited to, our competitive position and margins. Over the last two years, as a result of the inflationary environment in the U.S., we experienced increases in our direct costs, including electricity and other energy-related costs for our network operations, and transportation and labor costs, as well as increased interest expenses related to rising interest rates. In 2022, these factors, along with impacts of the intense competition in our industries, resulted in lower earnings per share and caused us to lower our growth expectations and related financial guidance for that year. We expect the inflationary environment and related pressures to continue into 2024. In that case and if other unfavorable economic conditions continue or worsen, they could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

Operational Risks

Cyber attacks impacting our networks or systems could have an adverse effect on our business.

Cyber attacks, including through the use of ransomware and other forms of malware, distributed denial of services attacks, credential harvesting, social engineering and other means for obtaining unauthorized access to or disrupting the operation of our networks and systems and those of our suppliers, vendors and other service providers, could have an adverse effect on our business. Cyber attacks may cause equipment failures, loss of information, including sensitive personal information of customers or employees or valuable technical and marketing information, as well as disruptions to our or our customers’ operations. Cyber attacks against companies, including Verizon, have increased in frequency, scope and potential harm in recent years. They may occur alone or in conjunction with physical attacks, especially where disruption of service is an objective of the attacker. The development and maintenance of systems to prevent such attacks is costly and requires ongoing monitoring and updating to address their increasing prevalence and sophistication. While, to date, we have not been subject to cyber attacks that, individually or in the aggregate, have been material to Verizon's operations or financial condition, the preventive actions we take to reduce the risks associated with cyber attacks, including protection of our systems and networks, may be insufficient to repel or mitigate the effects of a cyber attack in the future.

The inability to operate or use our networks and systems or those of our suppliers, vendors and other service providers as a result of cyber attacks, even for a limited period of time, may result in significant expenses to Verizon and/or a loss of market share to our competitors. The costs associated with a cyber attack on Verizon could include expensive incentives offered to existing customers and business partners to retain their business, increased expenditures on cybersecurity measures and the use of alternate resources, lost revenues from business interruption and litigation. Further, certain of Verizon’s businesses, such as those offering security solutions and infrastructure and cloud services to business customers, could be negatively affected if

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our ability to protect our own networks and systems is called into question as a result of a cyber attack. Our presence in the IoT industry, which includes offerings of telematics products and services, could also increase our exposure to potential costs and expenses and reputational harm in the event of cyber attacks impacting these products or services. In addition, a compromise of security or a theft or other compromise of valuable information, such as financial data and sensitive or private personal information, could result in lawsuits and government claims, investigations or proceedings. Any of these occurrences could damage our reputation, adversely impact customer and investor confidence and result in a material adverse effect on Verizon’s results of operation or financial condition.

Natural disasters, extreme weather conditions, acts of war, terrorist or other hostile acts could cause damage to our infrastructure and result in significant disruptions to our operations.

Our business operations are subject to interruption by power outages, acts of war, terrorist or other hostile acts, natural disasters or the potential impacts of climate change, including the increasing prevalence and intensity of hurricanes, wildfires, flooding, hail and storms. Such events could cause significant damage to our infrastructure upon which our business operations rely, resulting in degradation or disruption of service to our customers, as well as significant recovery time and expenditures to resume operations. Our system redundancy may be ineffective or inadequate to sustain our operations through all such events. We are implementing, and will continue to implement, measures to protect our infrastructure and operations from the impacts of these events in the future, but these measures and our overall disaster recovery planning may not be sufficient for all eventualities. These events could also damage the infrastructure of the suppliers that provide us with the equipment and services that we need to operate our business and provide products to our customers. These occurrences could result in lost revenues from business interruption, damage to our reputation and reduced profits.

We depend on key suppliers and vendors to provide services and equipment that we need to operate our business.

We depend on various key suppliers and vendors to provide us, directly or through other suppliers, with equipment and services, such as fiber, switch and network equipment, smartphones and other wireless devices, customer service support and other services that we need in order to operate our business. For example, our smartphone and other device suppliers often rely on one vendor for the manufacture and supply of critical components, such as chipsets, used in their devices, and there are a limited number of companies capable of supplying the network infrastructure equipment on which we depend.

Our suppliers or vendors could fail to provide equipment or service on a timely basis, or fail to meet our performance expectations, for a number of reasons, including, for example, disruption to the global supply chain as a result of geopolitical factors, public health crises, natural disasters or the potential impacts of global climate change. If such failures occur, we may be unable to provide products and services as and when requested by our customers, or we may be unable to continue to maintain or upgrade our networks. Due to the cost and time lag that can be associated with transitioning from one supplier to another, our business could be substantially disrupted if we were required to, or chose to, replace the products or services of one or more major suppliers with products or services from another source, especially if the replacement became necessary on short notice. Any such disruption could increase our costs, decrease our operating efficiencies and have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

A significant number of our suppliers and vendors are located or rely on operations outside of the U.S., which carries additional risks and regulatory obligations, including those related to cybersecurity, data privacy and compliance. Certain business practices in foreign countries may not align with U.S. laws and regulations. In addition, international operations increase our exposure to other risks, such as economic and geopolitical instability, fluctuations in exchange rates, and labor-related risks.

The suppliers and vendors on which we rely are and may in the future be subject to litigation with respect to technology on which we depend, including litigation involving claims of patent infringement. Such claims are frequently made in the communications industry. We are unable to predict whether our business will be affected by any such litigation. We expect our dependence on key suppliers to continue as we develop and introduce more advanced generations of technology.

A significant portion of our workforce is represented by labor unions, and we could incur additional costs or experience work stoppages as a result of the renegotiation of our labor contracts.

As of December 31, 2023, approximately 24.0% of our workforce is represented by the Communications Workers of America or the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. While we have labor contracts in place with these unions, with subsequent negotiations we could incur additional costs and/or experience work stoppages, which could adversely affect our business operations. In addition, while a small percentage of the workforce outside of our traditional wireline operations is represented by unions for bargaining, we cannot predict what impact increased union density in this workforce could have on our operations.

Damage to our reputation or brands could adversely affect our business.

We believe that our reputation and brands significantly contribute to the success of our business and our relationships with our customers, employees and other stakeholders.

Our reputation and brands could be negatively affected by a number of factors, including actual or alleged quality or reliability issues related to our services and products; cybersecurity incidents and data breaches; allegations of legal noncompliance;

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litigation or regulatory activity; incidents involving unethical behavior or misconduct; material weaknesses in our internal controls over financial reporting; safety, human rights, workplace or labor issues; environmental incidents or impacts; governance issues; our sustainability goals and practices; our actual or perceived position or lack of position on social and other sensitive matters; the conduct of our employees, representatives or partners; activists’ campaigns; negative sentiment about us shared over social media or the press; and other issues, incidents, or statements that, whether based on actual or perceived circumstances, result in adverse publicity.

Damage to our reputation and brands could undermine our customers’ confidence in us and reduce demand for our products and services, which could result in decreased revenue and adversely affect our business and financial results. If our reputation or brands are damaged, it could also attract regulatory scrutiny, increase litigation risks, affect our ability to attract and retain top talent, and reduce investor confidence in us.

Public health crises could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We are subject to risks related to public health crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, which had an adverse effect on our operating results in 2020. Our business is based on our ability to provide products and services to customers throughout the United States and around the world and the ability of those customers to use and pay for those products and services for their businesses and in their daily lives. As a result, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected by a public health crisis that significantly impacts the way customers use and are able to pay for our products and services, the way our employees are able to provide services to our customers, and the ways that our partners and suppliers are able to provide products and services to us. For example, public and private sector policies and initiatives to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 and initiatives Verizon took in response to the health crisis to promote the health and safety of our employees and provide critical infrastructure and connectivity to our customers, along with the related global slowdown in economic activity, resulted in decreased revenues, increased costs and lower earnings per share during 2020. In addition, such a crisis could significantly increase the probability or consequences of the risks our business faces in ordinary circumstances, such as risks associated with our supplier and vendor relationships, risks of an economic slowdown, regulatory risks, and the costs and availability of financing.

Regulatory and Legal Risks

Changes in the regulatory framework under which we operate could adversely affect our business prospects or results of operations.

Our domestic operations are subject to regulation by the FCC and other federal, state, and local agencies, and our international operations are regulated by various foreign governments and international bodies. These regulatory regimes frequently restrict or impose conditions on our ability to operate in designated areas and provide specified products or services. We are frequently required to maintain licenses for our operations and conduct our operations in accordance with prescribed standards. We are often involved in regulatory and other governmental proceedings or inquiries related to the application of these requirements. It is impossible to predict with any certainty the outcome of pending federal and state regulatory proceedings relating to our operations, or the reviews by federal or state courts of regulatory rulings. Without relief, existing laws and regulations may inhibit our ability to expand our business and introduce new products and services. Similarly, we cannot guarantee that we will be successful in obtaining the licenses needed to carry out our business plan or in maintaining our existing licenses. For example, the FCC grants wireless licenses for terms generally lasting 10 years, subject to renewal. The loss of, or a material limitation on, certain of our licenses could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

New laws or regulations or changes to the existing regulatory framework at the federal, state, and local, or international level, such as those described below, those that incentivize business models or technologies different from ours or requirements limiting our ability to continue or discontinue service to customers could restrict the ways in which we manage our wireline and wireless networks and operate our businesses, impose additional costs, diminish revenue opportunities, and potentially impede our ability to provide services in a manner that would be attractive to us and our customers.

•Privacy and data protection – We are subject to local, state, federal and international laws and regulations related to privacy and data protection. In particular, the California Consumer Privacy Act, Europe's General Data Protection Regulation and a number of other privacy laws more recently adopted by other states and countries include significant penalties for non-compliance. Generally, attention to privacy and data security requirements is increasing at all levels of government globally, and privacy-related legislation has been introduced or is under consideration in many locations. These regulations could have a significant impact on our businesses.

•Regulation of broadband internet access services – In 2023, the FCC proposed to return to regulation of broadband services under Title II of the Communications Act. The proposal would revive and expand the FCC's 2015 approach (that was reversed in 2017) to regulating broadband internet access services as telecommunications services subject to utilities-style common carriage regulation. Several states have also adopted or are considering adopting laws or executive orders that would impose net neutrality and other requirements on some of our broadband services. The FCC also adopted broad rules related to "digital discrimination" that could further increase regulatory oversight of broadband services.

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•"Open Access" – We hold certain wireless licenses that require us to comply with so-called "open access" FCC regulations, which generally require licensees of particular spectrum to allow customers to use devices and applications of their choice. Moreover, certain services could be subject to conflicting regulation by the FCC and/or various state and local authorities, which could significantly increase the cost of implementing and introducing new services.

•Climate-Related Regulation and Policy – Due to the nature of our operations, we have been, and expect to continue to be impacted by regulatory developments related to climate change, including, for example, the direct regulation of greenhouse gas emissions or carbon policies that could result in a tax on such emissions. In addition, policy-driven changes in the prices of fuel or energy in geographies in which we operate could make it more expensive for us to purchase energy to power our networks and data centers, and any increase in taxes on fuel could increase our costs associated with operating those vehicles in our fleet that are dependent on traditional fuels.

These developments and the further regulation of broadband, wireless, and our other activities and any related court decisions could result in significant increases in costs for us or restrict our ability to compete in the marketplace and limit the return we can expect to achieve on past and future investments in our networks.

Our business may be impacted by changes in tax laws and regulations, or their interpretations, and challenges to our tax positions.

Tax laws and regulations are complex, dynamic, and subject to change and varying interpretations, especially when evaluated against new technologies and telecommunications services. In addition, tax legislation has been introduced or is being considered in various jurisdictions that could significantly impact our tax rate, tax liabilities, and carrying value of deferred tax assets or deferred tax liabilities. Any of these changes could materially impact our financial performance and our tax provision, net income and cash flows.

We are also subject to ongoing audits, examinations and other tax controversies in various jurisdictions. Although we regularly assess the likelihood of an adverse outcome resulting from these controversies to determine the adequacy of provisions for taxes, the final outcome of any such controversy may be materially different from our expectations. In the event that we have not accurately or fully described, disclosed or determined, calculated or remitted amounts that were due to taxing authorities or if the ultimate determination of our taxes owed is for an amount in excess of amounts previously accrued, we could be subject to additional taxes, penalties and interest, which could materially impact our business, financial condition and operating results.

We are subject to a substantial amount of litigation, which could require us to pay significant damages or settlements.

We are subject to a substantial amount of litigation and claims in arbitration, including, but not limited to, shareholder lawsuits, patent and copyright infringement lawsuits, wage and hour class actions, contract and commercial claims, personal injury claims, property claims, environmental claims, and lawsuits relating to our advertising, sales, billing and collection practices. In addition, our wireless business also faces personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits relating to alleged health effects of wireless phones or radio frequency transmitters. We may incur significant expenses in defending these lawsuits. In addition, we may be required to pay significant awards or settlements.

Allegations related to lead sheathed copper cables in our copper network infrastructure could expose us to regulatory scrutiny, litigation, penalties, removal and compliance costs, operational impact or reputational damage.

There have been media reports alleging that certain lead sheathed copper cables that are part of our copper-based network infrastructure may present health or environmental risks in areas where those facilities are deployed. These allegations could result in government investigations, legislative or regulatory actions, litigation, penalties and other liability, remediation and compliance costs or negative operational impacts. In addition, we are currently subject to regulatory inquiries and lawsuits related to these allegations, and additional legal proceedings and other contingencies may arise in the future. Our insurance policies may not cover or may not be sufficient to fully cover the costs of these claims. Accordingly, we may incur substantial expenses as a result of these allegations, which cannot be reasonably estimated at this time but could be material.

In addition, negative assertions about the health or environmental impact of our lead sheathed cables may harm our reputation, which could adversely affect our business and our relationship with various stakeholders, even if such allegations ultimately prove to be inaccurate.

Financial Risks

Verizon has significant debt, which could increase further if Verizon incurs additional debt in the future and does not retire existing debt.

As of December 31, 2023, Verizon had approximately $128.5 billion of outstanding unsecured indebtedness, $9.5 billion of unused borrowing capacity under our existing revolving credit facility and $22.2 billion of outstanding secured indebtedness. Verizon’s debt level and related debt service obligations could have negative consequences, including:

17

•requiring Verizon to dedicate significant cash flow from operations to the payment of principal, interest and other amounts payable on our debt, which would reduce the funds we have available for other purposes, such as working capital, capital expenditures, dividend payments and acquisitions;

•making it more difficult or expensive for Verizon to obtain any necessary future financing for working capital, capital expenditures, debt service requirements, debt refinancing, acquisitions or other purposes and limiting its ability to repurchase common stock;

•reducing Verizon’s flexibility in planning for or reacting to changes in our industries and market conditions;

•making Verizon more vulnerable in the event of a downturn in our business; and

•exposing Verizon to increased interest rate risk to the extent that (i) our debt obligations are subject to variable interest rates or (ii) we need to refinance existing debt that bears interest at a rate lower than current market rates.

Adverse changes in the financial markets and other factors could increase our borrowing costs and the availability of financing.

We require a significant amount of capital to operate and grow our business. We fund our capital needs in part through borrowings in the public and private credit markets. Adverse changes in the financial markets, including increases in interest rates or changes in exchange rates, could increase our cost of borrowing, require us to post a significant amount of collateral, and/or make it more difficult for us to obtain financing for our operations or refinance existing indebtedness. In addition, our ability to obtain funding under asset-backed debt transactions is subject to our ability to continue to originate a sufficient amount of assets eligible to be securitized. Our borrowing costs also can be affected by short- and long-term debt ratings assigned by independent rating agencies, which are based, in significant part, on our performance as measured by customary credit metrics. A decrease in these ratings would likely increase our cost of borrowing and/or make it more difficult for us to obtain financing. A severe disruption in the global financial markets could impact some of the financial institutions with which we do business, and such instability could also affect our access to financing.

Increases in costs for pension benefits and active and retiree healthcare benefits may reduce our profitability and increase our funding commitments.

With approximately 105,400 employees and approximately 182,700 retirees as of December 31, 2023 eligible to participate in Verizon’s benefit plans, the costs of pension benefits and active and retiree healthcare benefits have a significant impact on our profitability. Our costs of maintaining these plans, and the future funding requirements for these plans, are affected by several factors, including increases in healthcare costs, decreases in investment returns on funds held by our pension and other benefit plan trusts and changes in the discount rate and mortality assumptions used to calculate pension and other postretirement expenses. If we are unable to limit future increases in the costs of our benefit plans, those costs could reduce our profitability and increase our funding commitments.

Item 1B.    Unresolved Staff Comments

None.

Item 1C.    Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity Program

Verizon’s comprehensive cybersecurity program is designed to identify and protect against cybersecurity risks and to position Verizon to rapidly detect, respond to, and recover from cybersecurity incidents that impact our company. The program is built on the following pillars:

•NIST Cybersecurity Framework. Our program is aligned to the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework, which outlines the core components and responsibilities necessary to sustain a healthy and well-balanced cybersecurity program.

•Risk identification. We continually assess the cybersecurity threat and vulnerability landscape using various commercial, government and publicly available information sources.

•Risk detection. We use both manual and automated detection methods on a scheduled and ad-hoc basis to identify vulnerabilities within, and threats to, our operations and network infrastructure.

•Risk evaluation. Once a cybersecurity vulnerability is detected, we assign a threat severity classification based on the risk profile associated with the vulnerability.

18

•Remediation. Verizon’s information security team reports all cybersecurity vulnerabilities and their associated threat classification to the appropriate business team for remediation. Deadlines for remediation are set based on the severity of the threat and closely tracked in a central system of record. In the instances when a remediation deadline cannot be met, the information security team and the business team work together to deploy appropriate mitigating or compensating controls until the remediation work is complete.

•Metrics and analysis. We track the performance of our cybersecurity program by collecting, retaining and analyzing a broad range of data related to our threat identification, detection and response activity. We use this data to assess threat trends, for strategic planning purposes and to enhance management accountability for cybersecurity.

Verizon has a comprehensive enterprise cybersecurity incident response plan, which is activated in the event of a cybersecurity incident. The plan is a detailed playbook that specifies how Verizon classifies, responds to, and recovers from cybersecurity incidents and includes notification procedures that vary depending on the significance of the incident. When warranted by the severity of the incident, our Chief Executive Officer and other senior executives are part of the notification chain.

Verizon validates enterprise cybersecurity maturity every two years through a third-party maturity assessment. This assessment measures Verizon’s ability to identify, prevent, detect, respond to, and recover from threats to systems, assets and data. The results of the assessment serve as the baseline for enterprise cybersecurity across the company. In addition to this baseline, certain subsets of our technology environment are subject to incremental cybersecurity certification and periodic third party validation under applicable regulatory or contractual requirements.

Integrated Cybersecurity Risk Management

Verizon’s Senior Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) has responsibility for the management of cybersecurity risks at Verizon. The CISO and their team are responsible for Verizon’s information security strategy, policy, standards, architecture and processes.

The CISO brings nearly two decades of cybersecurity experience to their work at Verizon. Prior to joining Verizon, they held executive-level cybersecurity roles at other large public companies, where they were responsible for cybersecurity strategy and operations, including incident response, threat intelligence, security services, architecture, commercial operational technology security, and regulatory and compliance matters.

Verizon effectuates cybersecurity management by providing for close cooperation among the CISO’s team and other teams within the company, as well as by integrating cybersecurity risk into Verizon’s overall enterprise risk management structures and processes. Each of our business units and certain functional groups have a Business Information Security Officer, who is an integral member of that unit or group, but reports to the CISO. This structure provides the CISO with line of sight across the enterprise. The CISO and members of their leadership team also meet regularly with business unit senior leaders, including the CEO, the Chief Financial Officer and the Chief Human Resources Officer, to discuss business priorities, emerging threats and trends, and the performance of the cybersecurity program.

The Verizon Executive Security Council (VESC) oversees and evaluates the work of the CISO and their team. The VESC is jointly chaired by the presidents of Verizon Global Services and Global Networks and Technology and includes Verizon’s Chief Compliance Officer, Chief Legal Officer, Senior Vice President of Internal Audit and senior executives in business and technology functions. The VESC provides oversight of all aspects of Verizon’s cybersecurity program and, at regular intervals throughout the year, evaluates key cybersecurity metrics as well as planned and ongoing initiatives to reduce cybersecurity risks.

Verizon’s Management Audit Committee (VMAC), which includes our Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President of Internal Audit and other senior executives, is responsible for overseeing components of our overall risk management strategy. The VMAC receives quarterly updates from the CISO on Verizon’s cybersecurity program.

Verizon also operates a robust internal audit program. Each year, Verizon’s internal audit team conducts an overall business risk assessment, which includes an evaluation of cybersecurity risks. The results of the assessment are presented to the leaders of the relevant business teams, who are responsible for prioritizing and addressing the risks identified.

Board Oversight of Cybersecurity Risk

The Audit Committee of the Board of Directors (Board) has primary responsibility for overseeing Verizon’s risk management and compliance programs relating to cybersecurity and data protection and privacy.

As part of the Board’s oversight of risks from cybersecurity threats, the CISO leads an annual review and discussion with the full Board dedicated to Verizon’s cybersecurity risks, threats and protections. The CISO provides a mid-year update to this annual review to the Audit Committee and, as warranted, additional updates throughout the year. The Audit Committee also receives a report from senior management on Verizon’s cybersecurity posture and related matters at each of its other meetings during the year at which the CISO is not present.

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Supplier Risk Management

We have implemented processes to identify and manage risks from cybersecurity threats associated with our use of third-party service providers. The Verizon Supplier Risk Management Program establishes governance, processes and tools for managing various supplier-related risks, including information security. As a condition of working with Verizon, suppliers who access sensitive business or customer information are expected to meet certain information security requirements.

Risks from Cybersecurity Threats

We are subject to increasing and evolving cybersecurity threats as cyber attacks against companies, including Verizon, have increased in frequency, scope and potential harm in recent years. While, to date, we have not been subject to cyber attacks that, individually or in the aggregate, have been material to Verizon's operations or financial condition, there can be no guarantee that we will not experience such an incident in the future. For more information on the risks from cybersecurity threats that we face, refer to “Risk Factors — Operational Risks — Cyber attacks impacting our networks or systems could have an adverse effect on our business” in Part I, Item 1A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Item 2.    Properties

Our principal properties do not lend themselves to simple description by character and location. Our total gross investment in property, plant and equipment was approximately $320 billion at December 31, 2023 and $308 billion at December 31, 2022, including the effect of retirements, but before deducting accumulated depreciation. Our gross investment in property, plant and equipment consisted of the following:

At December 31,	2023		2022
Network equipment	77.6	%	77.2	%
Land, buildings and building equipment	11.8	%	11.7	%
Furniture and other	10.6	%	11.1	%
	100.0	%	100.0	%

Network equipment consists primarily of cable (aerial, buried, underground or undersea) and the related support structures of poles and conduit, wireless plant, switching equipment, network software, transmission equipment and related facilities. Land, buildings and building equipment consists of land and land improvements, central office buildings or any other buildings that house network equipment, and buildings that are used for administrative and other purposes. Substantially all the switching centers are located on land and in buildings we own due to their critical role in the networks and high set-up and relocation costs. We also maintain facilities throughout the U.S. comprised of administrative and sales offices, customer care centers, retail sales locations, garage work centers, switching centers, cell sites and data centers. Furniture and other consists of telephone equipment, furniture, data processing equipment, office equipment, motor vehicles, construction in process, and leasehold improvements.

Item 3.    Legal Proceedings

In the ordinary course of business, Verizon is involved in various litigation and regulatory proceedings at the state and federal level. As of the date of this report, we do not believe that any pending legal proceedings to which we or our subsidiaries are subject are required to be disclosed as material legal proceedings pursuant to this item. Verizon is not subject to any administrative or judicial proceeding arising under any federal, state or local provisions that have been enacted or adopted regulating the discharge of materials into the environment or primarily for the purpose of protecting the environment that is likely to result in monetary sanctions of $1 million or more. For a discussion of our litigation risks, refer to Item 1A Risk Factors.

Item 4.    Mine Safety Disclosures

None.

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PART II

Item 5.    Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

The principal market for trading in the common stock of the Company is the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "VZ".

As of December 31, 2023, there were 421,493 shareholders of record. In addition, a significant number of holders of the Company's common stock are "street name" or beneficial holders, whose shares are held of record by banks, brokers, and other financial institutions.

Stock Repurchases

In February 2020, the Board of Directors of the Company authorized a share buyback program to repurchase up to 100 million shares of our common stock. The program will terminate when the aggregate number of shares purchased reaches 100 million, or a new share repurchase plan superseding the current plan is authorized, whichever is sooner. Under the program, shares may be repurchased in privately negotiated transactions, on the open market, or otherwise, including through plans complying with Rule 10b5-1 under the Exchange Act. The timing and number of shares purchased under the program, if any, will depend on market conditions and our capital allocation priorities.

During the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, Verizon did not repurchase any shares of the Company's common stock under our authorized share buyback program. At December 31, 2023, the maximum number of shares that could be purchased by or on behalf of Verizon under our share buyback program was 100 million.

Stock Performance Graph

	2018		2019		2020		2021		2022		2023
Verizon	$	100.0	$	113.9	$	113.7	$	105.2	$	84.1	$	86.5
S&P 500	100.0		131.5		155.7		200.3		164.0		207.0
S&P 500 Telecom Services	100.0		132.7		164.0		199.4		119.9		186.8

The graph compares the cumulative total returns of Verizon, the S&P 500 Stock Index and the S&P 500 Telecommunications Services Index over a five-year period. It assumes $100 was invested on December 31, 2018 with dividends being reinvested.

Item 6. [Reserved]

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Item 7.    Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

Overview

Verizon Communications Inc. is a holding company that, acting through its subsidiaries, is one of the world’s leading providers of communications, technology, information and entertainment products and services to consumers, businesses and government entities. With a presence around the world, we offer data, video and voice services and solutions on our networks and platforms that are designed to meet customers’ demand for mobility, reliable network connectivity and security.

To compete effectively in today’s dynamic marketplace, we are focused on the capabilities of our high-performing networks to drive growth based on delivering what customers want and need in the digital world. We are consistently deploying new network architecture and technologies to secure our leadership in both 4G and 5G wireless networks. Our network quality is the hallmark of our brand and the foundation for the connectivity, platforms and solutions upon which we build our competitive advantage. In 2023, we continued deploying our C-Band spectrum, enhancing and driving the monetization of our networks, platforms and solutions, while focusing on improving our financial and operating performance.

Our strategy requires significant capital investments primarily to acquire wireless spectrum, put the spectrum into service, provide additional capacity for growth in our networks, invest in the fiber that supports our businesses, evolve and maintain our networks and develop and maintain significant advanced information technology systems and data system capabilities. We believe that our C-Band spectrum, together with our industry leading millimeter wave spectrum holdings and our 4G LTE network and fiber infrastructure, will drive innovative products and services and fuel our growth.

Highlights of Our 2023 Financial Results

(dollars in millions)

Business Overview

We have two reportable segments that we operate and manage as strategic business units - Verizon Consumer Group (Consumer) and Verizon Business Group (Business).

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Revenue by Segment

———

Note: Excludes eliminations.

Verizon Consumer Group

Our Consumer segment provides consumer-focused wireless and wireline communications services and products. Our wireless services are provided across one of the most extensive wireless networks in the U.S. under the Verizon family of brands and through wholesale and other arrangements. We also provide FWA broadband through our 5G or 4G LTE networks as an alternative to traditional landline internet access. Our wireline services are provided in nine states in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern U.S., as well as Washington D.C., over our 100% fiber-optic network through our Verizon Fios product portfolio and over a traditional copper-based network to customers who are not served by Fios. Our Consumer segment's wireless and wireline products and services are available to our retail customers, as well as resellers that purchase wireless network access from us on a wholesale basis.

Customers can obtain our wireless services on a postpaid or prepaid basis. Our postpaid service is generally billed one month in advance for a monthly access charge in return for access to and usage of network services. Our prepaid service is offered only to Consumer customers and enables individuals to obtain wireless services without credit verification by paying for all services in advance. The Consumer segment also offers several categories of wireless equipment to customers, including a variety of smartphones and other handsets, wireless-enabled internet devices, such as tablets, and other wireless-enabled connected devices, such as smart watches.

In addition to the wireless services and equipment discussed above, the Consumer segment sells residential fixed connectivity solutions, including internet, video and voice services, and wireless network access to resellers on a wholesale basis. The Consumer segment's operating revenues for the year ended December 31, 2023 totaled $101.6 billion, a decrease of $1.9 billion, or 1.8%, compared to the year ended December 31, 2022. See "Segment Results of Operations" for additional information regarding our Consumer segment’s operating performance and selected operating statistics.

Verizon Business Group

Our Business segment provides wireless and wireline communications services and products, including FWA broadband, data, video and conferencing services, corporate networking solutions, security and managed network services, local and long distance voice services and network access to deliver various IoT services and products, including solutions that support mobile resource management. We provide these products and services to businesses, government customers and wireless and wireline carriers across the U.S. and a subset of these products and services to customers around the world. The Business segment's operating revenues for the year ended December 31, 2023 totaled $30.1 billion, a decrease of $950 million, or 3.1%, compared to the year ended December 31, 2022. See "Segment Results of Operations" for additional information regarding our Business segment’s operating performance and selected operating statistics.

Corporate and Other

Corporate and other primarily includes device insurance programs, investments in unconsolidated businesses and development stage businesses that support our strategic initiatives, as well as unallocated corporate expenses, certain pension and other employee benefit related costs and interest and financing expenses. Corporate and other also includes the historical results of divested businesses and other adjustments and gains and losses that are not allocated or used in assessing segment performance due to their nature. Although such transactions are excluded from the business segment results, they are included in reported consolidated earnings. Gains and losses from these transactions that are not individually significant are included in segment results and therefore included in the chief operating decision maker’s assessment of segment performance. See "Consolidated Results of Operations" for additional information regarding Corporate and other results.

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Capital Expenditures and Investments

We continue to invest in our wireless networks, high-speed fiber and other advanced technologies to position ourselves at the center of growth trends for the future. During the year ended December 31, 2023, these investments included $18.8 billion for capital expenditures. See "Cash Flows Used in Investing Activities" and "Liquidity and Capital Resources" for additional information. In the second quarter of 2023, we completed our accelerated $10 billion capital program related to C-Band spectrum deployment. Our ongoing C-Band spectrum deployment is funded through our general capital expenditure program.

Global Network and Technology

Over the past several years, we have been leading the development of 5G wireless technology industry standards and the ecosystems for fixed and mobile 5G wireless services. 5G technology enables higher throughput and lower latency than 4G LTE technology and allows our networks to handle more traffic as the number of internet-connected devices grows.

We are focusing our capital investment on building our next generation 5G network, while also adding capacity and density to our 4G LTE network. We are densifying our networks by utilizing macro and small cell technology, in-building solutions and distributed antenna systems. Network densification enables us to add capacity to address increasing mobile video consumption and the growing demand for IoT products and services on our 5G and 4G LTE networks. In January 2022, we began rapidly deploying our C-Band spectrum, which, as of December 31, 2023, covers approximately 242 million people in the U.S. We obtained full access to our C-Band spectrum in August 2023 and will continue deploying this spectrum across the continental U.S.

To compensate for the shrinking market for traditional copper-based products, we continue to build fiber-based networks supporting data, video and advanced business services - areas where demand for reliable high-speed connections is growing. In addition, we leverage our 5G and 4G LTE networks for our FWA broadband service.

Consolidated Results of Operations

In this section, we discuss our overall results of operations and highlight special items that are not included in our segment results. In "Segment Results of Operations," we review the performance of our two reportable segments in more detail.

During the first quarter of 2023, Verizon reorganized the customer groups within its Business segment. Previously, this segment was comprised of four customer groups: Small and Medium Business, Global Enterprise, Public Sector and Other, and Wholesale. Following the reorganization, there are now three customer groups: Enterprise and Public Sector, Business Markets and Other, and Wholesale. Enterprise and Public Sector combines the customers previously included in Global Enterprise and Public Sector and Other (excluding BlueJeans and Connect customers) as well as the commercial wireline customers previously included in Small and Medium Business. Business Markets and Other combines the customers previously included in Small and Medium Business (excluding commercial wireline customers), the BlueJeans customers previously included in Global Enterprise and Public Sector and Other, and the Connect customers previously included in Public Sector and Other. The Wholesale customer group remained unchanged. Prior period operating revenue results within the Business segment have been recast for these reorganized customer groups. There was no change to the composition of our reportable segments and total segment results, nor the determination of segment profit.

A discussion of the Business segment's 2021 operating revenue results reflecting the current customer groups and year-over-year comparisons between 2022 and 2021 have been included in "Segment Results of Operations" below. A discussion of the 2021 items and year-over-year comparisons between 2022 and 2021 for all other items that are not included in this Form 10-K can be found in the "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022.

Consolidated Operating Revenues

					(dollars in millions)
					Decrease
Years Ended December 31,	2023		2022		2023 vs. 2022
Consumer	$	101,626	$	103,506	$	(1,880)	(1.8)	%
Business	30,122		31,072		(950)		(3.1)
Corporate and other	2,479		2,510		(31)		(1.2)
Eliminations	(253)		(253)		—		—
Consolidated Operating Revenues	$	133,974	$	136,835	$	(2,861)	(2.1)

Consolidated operating revenues decreased during 2023 compared to 2022 primarily due to decreases in Wireless equipment revenues.

Revenues for our segments are discussed separately below under the heading "Segment Results of Operations."

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Consolidated Operating Expenses

					(dollars in millions)
					Increase/(Decrease)
Years Ended December 31,	2023		2022		2023 vs. 2022
Cost of services	$	28,100	$	28,637	$	(537)	(1.9)	%
Cost of wireless equipment	26,787		30,496		(3,709)		(12.2)
Selling, general and administrative expense	32,745		30,136		2,609		8.7
Depreciation and amortization expense	17,624		17,099		525		3.1
Verizon Business Group goodwill impairment	5,841		—		5,841		nm
Consolidated Operating Expenses	$	111,097	$	106,368	$	4,729	4.4

nm - not meaningful

Operating expenses for our segments are discussed separately below under the heading "Segment Results of Operations."

Cost of Services

Cost of services includes the following costs directly attributable to a service: salaries and wages, benefits, materials and supplies, content costs, contracted services, network access and transport costs, customer provisioning costs, computer systems support and costs to support our outsourcing contracts and technical facilities. Aggregate customer service costs, which include billing and service provisioning, are allocated between Cost of services and Selling, general and administrative expense.

Cost of services decreased during 2023 compared to 2022 primarily as a result of:

•a decrease of $658 million in access costs primarily as a result of pricing changes and usage declines largely related to the shutdown of our competitors' third-generation (3G) networks in 2022 and ongoing efforts to migrate off network prepaid subscribers to the Verizon network;

•a decrease of $156 million in direct costs primarily related to certain professional services that did not reoccur in 2023;

•an increase of $204 million in regulatory costs primarily related to a higher net Federal Universal Service Fund (FUSF) rate; and

•an increase of $149 million in rent and lease expense primarily driven by new leases and lease modifications related to the deployment of the C-Band spectrum.

Cost of Wireless Equipment

Cost of wireless equipment decreased during 2023 compared to 2022 primarily as a result of:

•a decrease of $4.7 billion driven by a lower volume of wireless devices sold primarily related to a decrease of 24% in upgrades; and

•an increase of $953 million due to a shift to higher priced equipment in the mix of wireless devices sold.

Selling, General and Administrative Expense

Selling, general and administrative expense includes salaries and wages and benefits not directly attributable to a service or product, the provision for credit losses, taxes other than income taxes, advertising and sales commission costs, call center and information technology costs, regulatory fees, professional service fees and rent and utilities for administrative space. Also included is a portion of the aggregate customer care costs as discussed above in "Cost of Services."

Selling, general and administrative expense increased during 2023 compared to 2022 primarily due to:

•an increase of $603 million in the provision for credit losses resulting from additional bad debt reserves as collections return to pre-pandemic levels, coupled with an increase in wireless retail postpaid gross additions;

•an increase of $533 million in personnel costs from severance charges;

•an increase of $458 million primarily related to asset rationalization charges;

•an increase of $393 million primarily related to higher costs for device insurance programs due to an increase in claims;

•an increase of $299 million in advertising costs driven by costs associated with the myPlan launch in the second quarter of 2023 and the scaling of our Total by Verizon prepaid brand;

•an increase of $161 million related to business transformation costs;

•an increase of $113 million in connection with the non-strategic business shutdown of our BlueJeans business offering; and

•an increase of $100 million related to a legal settlement.

See "Special Items" for additional information on the severance charges, asset rationalization charges, business transformation costs, the non-strategic business shutdown and the legal settlement.

Depreciation and Amortization Expense

Depreciation and amortization expense increased during 2023 compared to 2022, primarily due to the change in the mix of net depreciable and amortizable assets, including acquisition-related intangible assets, and the continued deployment of C-Band network assets.

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Verizon Business Group Goodwill Impairment

During 2023, we recorded a pre-tax charge of $5.8 billion as a result of the annual goodwill impairment test performed in the fourth quarter. See "Critical Accounting Estimates" for additional information.

Other Consolidated Results

Other Income (Expense), Net

Additional information relating to Other income (expense), net is as follows:

					(dollars in millions)
					Increase/(Decrease)
Years Ended December 31,	2023		2022		2023 vs. 2022
Interest income	$	354	$	146	$	208	nm
Other components of net periodic benefit income (cost)	(938)		2,386		(3,324)		nm
Net debt extinguishment gains (losses)	308		(1,077)		1,385		nm
Other, net	(37)		(82)		45		54.9	%
Other Income (Expense), Net	$	(313)	$	1,373	$	(1,686)	nm

nm - not meaningful

Other income (expense), net reflects certain items not directly related to our core operations, including interest income, debt extinguishment costs, components of net periodic pension and postretirement benefit cost and income and certain foreign exchange gains and losses.

Other income (expense), net decreased during 2023 compared to 2022 primarily due to:

•a net pension and postretirement benefits remeasurement loss of $992 million recorded during 2023, compared with a gain of $1.7 billion recorded during 2022, as well as an increase in interest costs in 2023 of $421 million primarily due to an increase in discount rates;

•net debt extinguishment gains of $308 million related to open market repurchases of various Company notes and tender offers in 2023, compared with losses of $1.1 billion primarily related to tender offers in 2022; and

•an increase in interest income due to higher interest rates.

Interest Expense

							(dollars in millions)
							Increase/(Decrease)
Years Ended December 31,	2023			2022			2023 vs. 2022
Total interest costs on debt balances	$	7,342		$	5,643		$	1,699	30.1	%
Less capitalized interest costs	1,818			2,030			(212)		(10.4)
Interest Expense	$	5,524		$	3,613		$	1,911	52.9
Average debt outstanding(1)(3)	$	151,062		$	151,226
Effective interest rate(2)(3)	4.9		%	3.7		%

(1)The average debt outstanding is a financial measure and is calculated by applying a simple average of prior thirteen-month end balances of total short-term and long-term debt, net of discounts, premiums and unamortized debt issuance costs.

(2)The effective interest rate is the rate of actual interest incurred on debt. It is calculated by dividing the total interest costs on debt balances by the average debt outstanding.

(3)We believe that this measure is useful to management, investors and other users of our financial information in evaluating our debt financing cost and trends in our debt leverage management.

Total interest expense increased during 2023 compared to 2022 primarily as a result of an increase in interest costs due to a higher average interest rate and a decrease in capitalized interest costs due to the early clearance and deployment of C-Band spectrum in the current period, which were partially offset by lower average debt balances.

Provision for Income Taxes

							(dollars in millions)
							Decrease
Years Ended December 31,	2023			2022			2023 vs. 2022
Provision for income taxes	$	4,892		$	6,523		$	(1,631)	(25.0)	%
Effective income tax rate	28.8		%	23.1		%

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The effective income tax rate is calculated by dividing the provision for income taxes by income before the provision for income taxes. The increase in the effective income tax rate was primarily due to the Verizon Business Group goodwill impairment charge of $5.8 billion that substantially decreased income before income taxes and is not deductible. The decrease in the provision for income taxes was primarily due to the decrease in income before income taxes in the current period.

A reconciliation of the statutory federal income tax rate to the effective income tax rate for each period is included in Note 12 to the consolidated financial statements.

Consolidated Net Income, Consolidated EBITDA and Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA

Consolidated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization expense (Consolidated EBITDA) and Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA, which are presented below, are non-GAAP financial measures that we believe are useful to management, investors and other users of our financial information in evaluating operating profitability on a more variable cost basis as they exclude the depreciation and amortization expense related primarily to capital expenditures and acquisitions that occurred in prior years, as well as in evaluating operating performance in relation to Verizon’s competitors. Consolidated EBITDA is calculated by adding back interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization expense to net income.

Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA is calculated by excluding from Consolidated EBITDA the effect of the following non-operational items: equity in earnings and losses of unconsolidated businesses and other income and expense, net, as well as the effect of certain special items. We believe that this measure is useful to management, investors and other users of our financial information in evaluating the effectiveness of our operations and underlying business trends in a manner that is consistent with management’s evaluation of business performance. We believe that Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA is widely used by investors to compare a company’s operating performance to its competitors by minimizing impacts caused by differences in capital structure, taxes, and depreciation and amortization policies. Further, the exclusion of non-operational items and special items enables comparability to prior period performance and trend analysis. See "Special Items" for additional information.

It is management’s intent to provide non-GAAP financial information to enhance the understanding of Verizon’s GAAP financial information, and it should be considered by the reader in addition to, but not instead of, the financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP. Each non-GAAP financial measure is presented along with the corresponding GAAP measure so as not to imply that more emphasis should be placed on the non-GAAP measure. We believe that providing these non-GAAP measures in addition to the GAAP measures allows management, investors and other users of our financial information to more fully and accurately assess both consolidated and segment performance. The non-GAAP financial information presented may be determined or calculated differently by other companies and may not be directly comparable to that of other companies.

	(dollars in millions)
Years Ended December 31,	2023		2022
Consolidated Net Income	$	12,095	$	21,748
Add:
Provision for income taxes	4,892		6,523
Interest expense	5,524		3,613
Depreciation and amortization expense(1)	17,624		17,099
Consolidated EBITDA	$	40,135	$	48,983
Add (Less):
Other (income) expense, net(2)(3)	$	313	$	(1,373)
Equity in (earnings) losses of unconsolidated businesses	53		(44)
Severance charges	533		304
Verizon Business Group goodwill impairment	5,841		—
Asset rationalization	480		—
Legal settlement	100		—
Business transformation costs	176		—
Non-strategic business shutdown	158		—
Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA	$	47,789	$	47,870

(1) Includes Amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets, which were $865 million and $826 million during the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. The result for the year ended December 31, 2023 also includes a portion of the Non-strategic business shutdown. See "Special Items" for additional information.

(2) Includes Pension and benefits remeasurement charges of $992 million during the year ended December 31, 2023 and credits of $1.7 billion during the year ended December 31, 2022. See "Special Items" and "Other Income (Expense), Net" for additional information.

(3) Includes Early debt redemption costs, which were $1.2 billion during the year ended December 31, 2022. See "Special Items" and "Other Income (Expense), Net" for additional information.

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The changes in Consolidated Net Income, Consolidated EBITDA and Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA in the table above during 2023 compared to 2022 were primarily a result of the factors described above in connection with operating revenues and operating expenses.

Segment Results of Operations

We have two reportable segments that we operate and manage as strategic business units - Consumer and Business. We measure and evaluate our segments based on segment operating income. The use of segment operating income is consistent with the chief operating decision maker’s assessment of segment performance.

To aid in the understanding of segment performance as it relates to segment operating income, management uses the following operating statistics to evaluate the overall effectiveness of our segments. We believe these operating statistics are useful to investors and other users of our financial information because they provide additional insight into drivers of our segments’ operating results, key trends and performance relative to our peers. These operating statistics may be determined or calculated differently by other companies and may not be directly comparable to those statistics of other companies.

Wireless retail connections are retail customer device postpaid and prepaid connections as of the end of the period. Retail connections under an account may include those from smartphones and basic phones (collectively, phones), postpaid and prepaid FWA, as well as tablets and other internet devices, wearables and retail IoT devices. Wireless retail connections are calculated by adding total retail postpaid and prepaid new connections in the period to prior period retail connections, and subtracting total retail postpaid and prepaid disconnects in the period.

Wireless retail postpaid connections are retail postpaid customer device connections as of the end of the period. Retail postpaid connections under an account may include those from phones, postpaid FWA, as well as tablets and other internet devices, wearables and retail IoT devices. Wireless retail postpaid connections are calculated by adding retail postpaid new connections in the period to prior period retail postpaid connections, and subtracting retail postpaid disconnects in the period.

Wireless retail prepaid connections are retail prepaid customer device connections as of the end of the period. Retail prepaid connections may include those from phones, prepaid FWA, as well as tablets and other internet devices, and wearables. Wireless retail prepaid connections are calculated by adding retail prepaid new connections in the period to prior period retail prepaid connections, and subtracting retail prepaid disconnects in the period.

Fios internet connections are the total number of connections to the internet using Fios internet services as of the end of the period. Fios internet connections are calculated by adding Fios internet new connections in the period to prior period Fios internet connections, and subtracting Fios internet disconnects in the period.

Fios video connections are the total number of connections to traditional linear video programming using Fios video services as of the end of the period. Fios video connections are calculated by adding Fios video net additions in the period to prior period Fios video connections. Fios video net additions are calculated by subtracting the Fios video disconnects from the Fios video new connections.

Total broadband connections are the total number of connections to the internet using Fios internet services, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), and postpaid, prepaid and IoT FWA as of the end of the period. Total broadband connections are calculated by adding total broadband connections, net additions in the period to prior period total broadband connections.

Wireless retail connections, net additions are the total number of additional retail customer device postpaid and prepaid connections, less the number of device disconnects in the period. Wireless retail connections, net additions in each period presented are calculated by subtracting the total retail postpaid and prepaid disconnects, net of certain adjustments, from the total retail postpaid and prepaid new connections in the period.

Wireless retail postpaid connections, net additions are the total number of additional retail customer device postpaid connections, less the number of device disconnects in the period. Wireless retail postpaid connections, net additions in each period presented are calculated by subtracting the retail postpaid disconnects, net of certain adjustments, from the retail postpaid new connections in the period.

Wireless retail prepaid connections, net additions are the total number of additional retail customer device prepaid connections, less the number of device disconnects in the period. Wireless retail prepaid connections, net additions in each period presented are calculated by subtracting the retail prepaid disconnects, net of certain adjustments, from the retail prepaid new connections in the period.

Wireless retail postpaid phone connections, net additions are the total number of additional retail customer postpaid phone connections, less the number of phone disconnects in the period. Wireless retail postpaid phone connections, net additions in each period presented are calculated by subtracting the retail postpaid phone disconnects, net of certain adjustments, from the retail postpaid phone new connections in the period.

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Total broadband connections, net additions are the total number of additional total broadband connections, less the number of total broadband disconnects in the period. Total broadband connections, net additions in each period presented are calculated by subtracting the total broadband disconnects, net of certain adjustments, from the total broadband new connections in the period.

Wireless churn is the rate at which service to retail, retail postpaid, or retail postpaid phone connections is terminated on average in the period. The churn rate in each period presented is calculated by dividing retail disconnects, retail postpaid disconnects, or retail postpaid phone disconnects by the average retail connections, average retail postpaid connections, or average retail postpaid phone connections, respectively, in the period.

Wireless retail postpaid ARPA is the calculated average retail postpaid service revenue per account (ARPA) from retail postpaid accounts in the period. Wireless retail postpaid service revenue does not include recurring device payment plan billings related to the Verizon device payment program, plan billings related to device warranty and insurance or regulatory fees. Wireless retail postpaid ARPA in each period presented is calculated by dividing retail postpaid service revenue by the average retail postpaid accounts in the period.

Wireless retail postpaid accounts are wireless retail customers that are directly served and managed under the Verizon brand and use its services as of the end of the period. Accounts include unlimited plans, shared data plans and corporate accounts, as well as legacy single connection plans and multi-connection family plans. A single account may include monthly wireless services for a variety of connected devices. Wireless retail postpaid accounts are calculated by adding retail postpaid new accounts to the prior period retail postpaid accounts.

Wireless retail postpaid connections per account is the calculated average number of retail postpaid connections per retail postpaid account as of the end of the period. Wireless retail postpaid connections per account is calculated by dividing the total number of retail postpaid connections by the number of retail postpaid accounts as of the end of the period.

Segment operating income margin reflects the profitability of the segment as a percentage of revenue. Segment operating income margin is calculated by dividing total segment operating income by total segment operating revenues.

Segment earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Segment EBITDA), which is presented below, is a non-GAAP measure and does not purport to be an alternative to operating income (loss) as a measure of operating performance. We believe this measure is useful to management, investors and other users of our financial information in evaluating operating profitability on a more variable cost basis as it excludes the depreciation and amortization expense related primarily to capital expenditures and acquisitions that occurred in prior years, as well as in evaluating operating performance in relation to our competitors. Segment EBITDA is calculated by adding back depreciation and amortization expense to segment operating income (loss). Segment EBITDA margin is calculated by dividing Segment EBITDA by total segment operating revenues. See Note 13 to the consolidated financial statements for additional information.

Verizon Consumer Group

Our Consumer segment provides consumer-focused wireless and wireline communications services and products. Our wireless services are provided across one of the most extensive wireless networks in the U.S. under the Verizon family of brands and through wholesale and other arrangements. We also provide FWA broadband through our 5G or 4G LTE networks as an alternative to traditional landline internet access. Our wireline services are provided in nine states in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern U.S., as well as Washington D.C., over our 100% fiber-optic network through our Verizon Fios product portfolio and over a traditional copper-based network to customers who are not served by Fios.

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Operating Revenues and Selected Operating Statistics

							(dollars in millions, except ARPA)
								Increase/(Decrease)
Years Ended December 31,	2023			2022				2023 vs. 2022
Service(1)	$	74,874		$	73,139			$	1,735	2.4	%
Wireless equipment	20,645			23,168				(2,523)		(10.9)
Other	6,107			7,199				(1,092)		(15.2)
Total Operating Revenues	$	101,626		$	103,506			$	(1,880)	(1.8)
Connections (‘000):(2)
Wireless retail postpaid	93,850			91,856				1,994		2.2
Wireless retail prepaid	21,122			22,664				(1,542)		(6.8)
Total wireless retail	114,972			114,520				452		0.4
Fios internet	6,976			6,740				236		3.5
Fios video	2,951			3,234				(283)		(8.8)
Total broadband	9,056			7,900				1,156		14.6
Net Additions in Period (‘000):
Wireless retail postpaid	2,044			965				1,079		nm
Wireless retail prepaid	(1,151)			(445)				(706)		nm
Total wireless retail	893			520				373		71.7
Wireless retail postpaid phones	(132)			(655)				523		79.8
Total broadband	1,163			904				259		28.7
Churn Rate:
Wireless retail	1.67		%	1.63		%
Wireless retail postpaid	1.03		%	1.01		%
Wireless retail postpaid phones	0.83		%	0.81		%
Account Statistics:
Wireless retail postpaid ARPA	$	132.36		$	125.97			$	6.39	5.1
Wireless retail postpaid accounts (‘000)(2)	32,990			33,183				(193)		(0.6)
Wireless retail postpaid connections per account(2)	2.84			2.77				0.07		2.5

(1)Wireless service revenues included in our Consumer segment were approximately $63.4 billion and $61.5 billion for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively.

(2) As of end of period

Where applicable, the operating results reflect certain adjustments, including those related to the 3G network shutdowns, migration activity among different types of devices and plans, customer profile changes, and adjustments in connection with mergers, acquisitions and divestitures.

nm - not meaningful

Consumer's total operating revenues decreased during 2023 compared to 2022 as a result of decreases in Wireless equipment revenue and Other revenue, partially offset by an increase in Service revenue.

Service Revenue

Service revenue increased during 2023 compared to 2022 primarily driven by an increase in Wireless service revenue.

Wireless service revenue increased $1.8 billion during 2023 compared to 2022 primarily as a result of:

•an increase of $1.7 billion in access revenues related to our postpaid plans primarily driven by pricing actions implemented in recent periods; a larger allocation of administrative and telco recovery charges, which partly recover network operating costs, to Wireless service revenue from Other revenue; an increase in our FWA subscriber base; and an increase in device protection revenue primarily due to an increase in the price of the bundled offering. These increases were partially offset by the amortization of wireless equipment sales promotions;

•an increase of $405 million related to growth in non-retail service revenue;

•an increase of $287 million in TravelPass revenue related to increased customer international travel; and

•a decrease of $500 million in prepaid revenue primarily due to a decrease in the prepaid subscriber base.

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For the year ended December 31, 2023, Fios service revenue totaled $10.9 billion and remained relatively flat compared to the similar period in 2022.

Wireless Equipment Revenue

Wireless equipment revenue decreased during 2023 compared to 2022 primarily as a result of:

•a decrease of $3.9 billion driven by a lower volume of wireless devices sold primarily related to a decrease of 26% in upgrades; and

•an increase of $1.4 billion related to a shift to higher priced equipment in the mix of wireless devices sold.

Other Revenue

Other revenue includes fees that partially recover the direct and indirect costs of complying with regulatory and industry obligations and programs, revenues associated with certain products included in our device protection offerings, leasing and interest recognized when equipment is sold to the customer by an authorized agent under a device payment plan agreement.

Other revenue decreased during 2023 compared to 2022 primarily as a result of:

•a decrease of $1.2 billion in revenue primarily related to a larger allocation of administrative and telco recovery charges, which partly recover network operating costs, to Wireless service revenue from Other revenue; and

•an increase of $109 million in revenue from regulatory surcharges, primarily related to FUSF surcharges driven by a higher net rate, partially offset by a decrease related to other regulatory surcharges.

Operating Expenses

					(dollars in millions)
					Increase/(Decrease)
Years Ended December 31,	2023		2022		2023 vs. 2022
Cost of services	$	17,580	$	17,746	$	(166)	(0.9)	%
Cost of wireless equipment	21,827		25,134		(3,307)		(13.2)
Selling, general and administrative expense	20,131		19,064		1,067		5.6
Depreciation and amortization expense	13,077		12,716		361		2.8
Total Operating Expenses	$	72,615	$	74,660	$	(2,045)	(2.7)

Cost of Services

Cost of services decreased during 2023 compared to 2022 primarily as a result of:

•a decrease of $566 million in access costs primarily as a result of pricing changes, the shutdown of our competitors' 3G networks in 2022 and ongoing efforts to migrate off network prepaid subscribers to the Verizon network;

•an increase of $177 million in personnel costs mainly driven by a decrease in capitalized labor in connection with the completion of our incremental C-Band capital spending program, and valuation assumption changes in connection with certain post-employment benefits;

•an increase of $154 million in regulatory costs primarily related to a higher net FUSF rate; and

•an increase of $92 million in rent and lease expense primarily driven by new leases and lease modifications related to the deployment of the C-Band spectrum.

Cost of Wireless Equipment

Cost of wireless equipment decreased during 2023 compared to 2022 primarily as a result of:

•a decrease of $4.1 billion driven by a lower volume of wireless devices sold primarily related to a decrease of 26% in upgrades; and

•an increase of $858 million related to a shift to higher priced equipment in the mix of wireless devices sold.

Selling, General and Administrative Expense

Selling, general and administrative expense increased during 2023 compared to 2022 primarily due to:

•an increase of $458 million in the provision for credit losses resulting from additional bad debt reserves as collections return to pre-pandemic levels, coupled with an increase in wireless retail postpaid gross additions;

•an increase of $352 million in advertising costs driven by costs associated with the myPlan launch in the second quarter of 2023 and the scaling of our Total by Verizon prepaid brand; and

•an increase of $237 million in personnel costs mainly driven by an increase in commission expense due to the amortization of deferred contract costs, along with an increase in costs associated with third-party contracted resources.

Depreciation and Amortization Expense

Depreciation and amortization expense increased during 2023 compared to 2022 driven by the change in the mix of total Verizon depreciable and amortizable assets and Consumer's usage of those assets.

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Segment Operating Income and EBITDA

							(dollars in millions)
							Increase
Years Ended December 31,	2023			2022			2023 vs. 2022
Segment Operating Income	$	29,011		$	28,846		$	165	0.6	%
Add Depreciation and amortization expense	13,077			12,716			361		2.8
Segment EBITDA	$	42,088		$	41,562		$	526	1.3
Segment operating income margin	28.5		%	27.9		%
Segment EBITDA margin	41.4		%	40.2		%

The changes in the table above during the periods presented were primarily a result of the factors described above in connection with Consumer operating revenues and operating expenses.

Verizon Business Group

Our Business segment provides wireless and wireline communications services and products, including FWA broadband, data, video and conferencing services, corporate networking solutions, security and managed network services, local and long distance voice services and network access to deliver various IoT services and products. We provide these products and services to businesses, government customers and wireless and wireline carriers across the U.S. and a subset of these products and services to customers around the world. The Business segment is organized in three customer groups: Enterprise and Public Sector, Business Markets and Other, and Wholesale.

Operating Revenues and Selected Operating Statistics

							(dollars in millions)
							Increase/(Decrease)
Years Ended December 31,	2023		2022		2021		2023 vs. 2022				2022 vs. 2021
Enterprise and Public Sector	$	15,076	$	15,693	$	16,393	$	(617)	(3.9)	%	$	(700)	(4.3)	%
Business Markets and Other	12,715		12,772		11,929		(57)		(0.4)		843		7.1
Wholesale	2,331		2,607		2,720		(276)		(10.6)		(113)		(4.2)
Total Operating Revenues(1)(2)	$	30,122	$	31,072	$	31,042	$	(950)	(3.1)		$	30	0.1
Connections (‘000):(3)
Wireless retail postpaid	29,779		28,733		27,411		1,046		3.6		1,322		4.8
Fios internet